


Louise Summons a Half Andalite

by RainEStar3



Series: Louise Summons [3]
Category: Animorphs - Katherine A. Applegate, ゼロの使い魔 | Zero no Tsukaima | The Familiar of Zero
Genre: Aliens, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Comedy, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Crossover, Dark Comedy, Drama, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fantasy, Gen, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Magic, Magic system, Murder, Past Child Abuse, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-05
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:27:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 34,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23499004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RainEStar3/pseuds/RainEStar3
Summary: Louise summons Tobias, the son of an Andalite Prince, as her familiar. Tobias finds himself whisked away from the brink of death, only to be ordered around by a pink-haired brat. With their clashing personalities, the two are in for a very difficult road ahead. But maybe they'll realize that they are more alike than they seem.
Relationships: Guiche de Gramont/Montmorency de Montmorency, Rachel (Animorphs)/Tobias (Animorphs), Tobias (Animorphs)/Louise de la Vallière, Tobias (Animorphs)/Siesta
Series: Louise Summons [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1690741
Comments: 48
Kudos: 46





	1. Human, Hawk, and now Familiar

"Ram the ship."

Those three words were the last order I would ever hear from Jake.

A morbid thought for a twenty-year old, I'm sure most people would say. But my life has been far from normal. When I was thirteen years old, an alien crashed down in an abandoned construction site that I and a few friends had been cutting through as a shortcut. The alien, Prince Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul of the Andalite race, warned us about the Yeerks, a parasitic race of alien slugs who were discretely invading Earth. He gave us one of the greatest treasures of his race, an Escafil device—or as we called it, the morphing cube—which would give us the power we needed to resist the Yeerks long enough for Andalite reinforcement to arrive.

Then he died, eaten alive by Visser Three, who quickly grew to be our most dangerous adversary.

Elfangor had sacrificed his life giving Earth the chance to defend itself. And although I didn't know it at the time, that was the first and only time I met my father.

Over three years after that event, we finally managed to defeat the Yeerks. Many people died. Soldiers and civilians, friends and enemies. But the loss that hurt us the most was the death of one of our core members. Rachel, our blonde adrenaline-junkie, died assassinating her cousin, Tom, who was the host of a dangerous Yeerk commander.

Tom was Jake's older brother.

Yeah, we were the universe's punching bag.

The war brought an era of peace, but the next three years were hard on the few surviving veterans. I had gone to live away from civilization, but Jake managed to track me down for suicide mission regarding the whereabouts of Ax, my fellow veteran, uncle, and best friend.

Six months of travel brought us here, aboard _The Rachel_ , traveling through Kelbrid Space, a region of the galaxy beyond Andalite authority. A being known as _The One_ was puppeteering Ax's body, threatening the destruction of everything and everyone we loved.

We knew our mission.

As the ship barreled towards the cosmic entity, I felt no fear. I had been a dead man walking for far too long. If my death saved the lives of others, I could die with a smile on my face. I shifted into my human form, feeling the small curl on the sides of my lips. "Rachel," I said softly. "Who knows, maybe we'll finally see each other again."

I watched my death come with calm open eyes, which is why I noticed the glowing green circle floating in front of me. I turned to the rest of the crew: Jake and Marco, my old comrades, Menderash, an Andalite subordinate of Ax, and Sergeant Santorelli and Jeanne Gerard, two of Jake's students. All of them looked onto our imminent death, but none seemed to notice the obvious glowing circle floating on our ship's bridge. Symbols danced along the inner rim of the circle, a pentagon and five-pointed star appearing in the center. I stood, mesmerized. I couldn't even guess the function of the strange sigil, but with my death imminent, it was unlikely that it would matter. I refocused my attention on the shifting abomination were approaching, wearing the face of my closest friend. The circle started glowing even brighter as the being's body filled the entire view from the ship.

And we crashed.

* * *

The Tristan Academy of Magic was one of the most important places in Tristan. Famous for training generations of aristocratic mages, not just Tristan natives, but also students abroad, any mage who graduated from this Academy was guaranteed success in any career they decided to pursue. Failure was not option. Not unless you were willing to have your family's name dragged through the mud for producing a talentless disgrace.

To most mages, this only meant that they had to apply themselves properly in their education. As long as they didn't spend more time ogling their peers instead of minding their studies, they didn't have much to worry about. The rare exception to this rule was one particular student: Louise Françoise le Blanc de la Vallière. Or, as she was often called by her classmates, Louise the Zero.

Strolling through the academy grounds, a small group of first year students were exchanging the latest gossip. "Did you hear?" one student whispered conspiratorially. "Louise the Zero caused an explosion in class yesterday."

"Again?" another asked with haughty laugh. "Which professor would let her cast anything in a classroom!"

"The new one, Professor Chevoruse."

"What a pity. Did she get punished?"

"Apparently, no," a third student cut in. "I heard from Montmorency that Louise was excused because everyone had warned the professor not to let her cast a spell. Because the professor ignored the warnings, Louise was held unaccountable for her actions."

"Such favoritism."

"I know right? Especially for a useless Zero."

"She may be the Karin of the Heavy Wind's daughter, but at this rate they'll let her get away with anything short of murder."

"She isn't even a true mage."

"Can you believe she's supposed to be a year ahead of us?"

"She's a disgrace to her family."

A distance away from the gossiping group, a short girl with long, wavy pink hair stood up from her seat. Unnoticed by her peers, she slipped away to another part of the academy grounds. The Familiar Summoning Exam would be starting soon, and her late appearance wouldn't do her grades or reputation any favors. Not that her reputation had much left to lose. Her rosy pink eyes were forced into an impassive gaze, but she could feel tears begging for release.

"About time you got here, little Louise," came a haughty laugh that was poorly hidden from behind a dark, German hand. A tall redhead beauty gave Louise a poisonously teasing smile, her hazel eyes alight with amusement.

"Zerbst," Louise replied curtly.

Kirche von Zerbst drooped her lower lip in an exaggerated pout. "Why do you have to be so cold? After all this time we've spent together, you haven't warmed up to me at all. You're nothing like my dear Tabitha." She wrapped her arms around the mentioned girl as she said this. Tabitha was small a blue-haired girl, standing even shorter than Louise. The hug from behind smothered the back of Tabitha's head into Kirche's exposed cleavage. But the blue haired mage didn't react in the slightest. Instead, she continued reading from a small book she held in one hand.

"I would like nothing more than to be as far away from you as possible," Louise said in a prim and condescending tone. "Ugly cow."

Before their conversation could delve into a traditional trade of banter, a senior voice rang out across the courtyard. "Good morning, students!" Professor Colbert, the teacher supervising the exam, greeted the young mages. A pair of glasses perched on his nose, and the only hair on his head was a patch of brown that wrapped around the back of his head. "It's time to begin the Familiar Summoning Exam. Who would like to be the first to summon their familiar?"

Though it was called an exam, the Familiar Summoning was more importantly a rite of passage. As the ceremony was a gift by Brimir, the Founder, to all the countries of Halkegenia, it was nigh impossible to mess up. A noble could not call themselves a mage if they were unable to summon to perform the ritual.

One by one, the students stepped forward to summon their familiars. Some summoned mundane creatures, like dogs, cats, and frogs. Others, such as Kirche and Tabitha, summoned magical creatures—a Salamander and a Wind Dragon, respectively. At last, Louise was the final person left to summon her familiar.

"Well, Louise," said Kirche. "Let's see if your familiar will be comparable to my Flame." The buxom redhead stroked her salamander's head affectionately.

"My familiar will be the greatest that ever existed," Louise declared. "None of your familiars will even compare."

"Oh?" Kirche asked with a predatory smile. "I'd like to see that."

"Begin whenever you're ready, Miss Valliere," said Professor Colbert.

Louise took a breath, and focused. The familiar summoning spell matched familiars based a mage's affinity and willpower. Even though she had no affinity for any of the elements, hence her unofficial title, Louise the Zero, she knew that her willpower was unmatched. No matter what anyone said, she would summon her familiar. She would succeed with at least one spell in her life. And with that success, the door to becoming a proper mage would be opened to her. "My familiar that exists in this vast universe!"

"Is she really trying to cast a spell?" Montmorency, a girl with blond ringlets, asked.

"Louise's spell is a reflection of her creativity," Guiche, a young man with curly blond hair, said with a nod.

"Still a Zero," Montmorency huffed.

Louise deafened her ears to their words, focusing only on the spell she was casting. "By the pentagon of the five elements, answer my summons, and appear before me!"

To absolutely no one's surprise, an explosion sprouted a few feet from Louise's extended wand. The sound ripped through the academy grounds, startling an old headmaster who had been using his mouse familiar to sneak a peek up his secretary's skirt. "That was certainly a loud one," he idly commented.

Mocking laughter spread around the courtyard.

"Another explosion?"

"As expected of a Zero."

"Think she'll finally be kicked out?"

"Probably. Someone without magic can't stay at a magic academy, now can they?"

"Wait, what's that?"

As the smoke of the explosion cleared away, a slender form was revealed. It was a boy, clad in nothing but tight black boxer shorts. He was scrawny, young, and otherwise unimpressive. Cold brown eyes stared from behind a curtain of dark, dirty blond hair that messily swept across his face. The boy turned his head slowly from side to side, not unlike an animal surveying its surroundings.

"You summoned a commoner boy!" Guiche laughed. "How embarrassing."

"Where are his clothes?" Montmorency asked, turning her face away.

"Honestly, Louise, if you wanted to see a male body so badly you could have gone for one that was worth looking at," said Kirche with a sly smile.

"I wasn't!" Louise protested hotly. A blush of embarrassment and anger colored her cheeks to match her hair.

"Well, he does seem to be as lacking as a man as you are as a woman," Kirche teased. "With your lack of feminine charm I can see why you would get a guy to match."

"Sh-shut up!"

As the buxom readhead mercilessly teased the stuttering pinkette, Tobias processed his new situation. His brown eyes, frozen in a slight glare, carefully surveyed his surroundings. It was clear that he was not in a spaceship about to crash into the body of his best friend being puppeteer by a cosmic entity.

That was good.

He had no idea what anyone was saying, where he was, or what was going on.

That was bad.

Overall, the good outweighed the bad.

That was good.

Still, he needed some answers. And preferably some silence. He couldn't tell what the suspiciously robed youths were talking about, but their rapid screeches were painful to his ears. Also, what kind of place had humans coexisting with monsters? Did none of them notice the dragon the size of a small house? And there was a creepy floating eyeball. Were they invisible? No, some students were looking at the mind-boggling creatures and giving looks of awe and jealousy. Was this a competition where people showed off their creepiest pet? Too many questions, and not enough answers. Also, why did some of the people looked like they died their hair with pastels? Tobias had been prepared to die, but he was not ready to deal with whatever was going on here.

"Looks like your familiar doesn't have much going on upstairs, Louise," said Kirche, circling a finger by her head. "I wonder what that says about you."

"Shut up, Zerbst!" Louise was completely red in the face by now.

Tobias, tired of an argument he could not—and did not want to—understand, decided to interrupt. Given that he was morphed into human form, he tried projecting his voice with thought-speak. {You, girl, can you hear me?}

Louise jumped looking around frantically. "Who said that?" she asked in alarm.

"Said what?" Kirche asked. "That you're lacking in certain areas?"

"No!" Louise hotly protested. "I thought heard something—"

If Tobias had to explain the difference between thought-speak and telepathy, the best comparison he could make was the difference between a radio broadcast and a phone call. Thought-speak could be accessed by as few or many stations—people—as the broadcaster wanted. But the broadcaster could only project thoughts, not receive them. Telepathy, in its truest form, was a direct mental link, like a phone call. It could even be upgrade to a group call, allowing multiple people to share and respond to the next work. In order to achieve the same effect with thought-speak, everyone had to be linked into the broadcast and have the ability to broadcast on the same wavelengths.

In short, thought-speak was a largely inferior version of telepathy, with its major weakness being made known when trying to communicate with someone he could not understand. He considered making a wide broadcast, but that would probably more confusion, which would slow the speed of communication.

Seeing the pink haired girl looking around in bewilderment, Tobias decided to provide some direction. {I'm standing right in front of you, robed girl.} With a startled jump, Louise turned to the blank-faced boy, who met her eyes with a piercing look. {Nod if you can understand me.}

Louise gave a hesitant nod. "H-how are you doing that?" she asked. Then she looked around. "Who is doing that?"

"What are you talking about?" Kirche asked. The Germanian's smug smile had dropped in place of a look of curious confusion. Louise was easy to tease because her reactions were explosively predictable. But the Tristan native was giving a very unusual reaction. It was as if the shorter girl was reacting to something else entirely. The majority of the surrounding students were still laughing at Louise, not even noticing that something was amiss.

Louise flushed, looking from Tobias to Kirche. "You can't hear that?" she asked Kirche.

"Hear what?" Guiche asked.

"Looks like one too many explosions have rattled poor Louise's brain." said Montmorency in mock pity.

{Girl, I'm right here,} Tobias thought with a scowl.

"Shut up!" Louise hissed at him.

"Is there something wrong, Miss Valliere?" Professor Colbert asked. The bespectacled man had been silently observing Louise's odd behavior, but now he was starting to realize something was wrong.

"Someone is making me hear a voice in my head!"

{Girl, I'm talking to you. Also, standing right in front of you. Look at me.}

"Stop doing that!"

"Let me see," said Colbert. Wind magic was the most likely culprit. A Whispering spell could be used to give quiet messages to other mages, but it could also be used to prank others by projecting voices. "I'll cast a Magic Detection. Tell me when you hear it again."

Since the girl was clearly starting to panic at this point, Tobias decided it was best to calm her down. He couldn't understand what she was saying, but he had a good guess what a normal person would think in such a situation. {You're not crazy; I am speaking to you through your mind.}

"There it is again!"

Colbert frowned as his grip on his staff tightened. "I detect no magic," he said in concern. It was nigh impossible that any student could cast a spell on Louise that would bypass his Magic Detection. But it was also clear that Louise was not faking her reaction to an unknown voice. "What are you hearing?" he asked.

"He said he's speaking to me through my mind."

"Who?"

"My familiar, or so he claims," Louise said, scowling in Tobias's direction.

Seeing that she was calmer—angry, but at least not screaming—Tobias decided th at now was a good time to say his piece. {I have no clue what you're saying, so just shut up and listen,} he said flatly. {Only you can hear me, and no, I cannot read your mind. Also, no, don't interrupt,} he intercepted as the young mage opened her mouth. {Like I said, I can't understand a word you're saying anyway. I speak English, and I think you're speaking Spanish or French. I didn't really get an education, so I can't tell the difference. If you could find someone who speaks passable English to translate, that'd be great.}

"You dare order around a noble?" Louise asked indignantly.

{Like I said, I can't understand what you're saying. But yelling isn't going to help, so be useful and go find someone who can translate for me.}

"Miss Valliere, what is he saying?" Colbert asked. By now the other students had realized that something—though they couldn't tell what—was not right. The mocking laughter had died, and they were all shooting puzzled glances at Louise and Colbert.

"My familiar says he's an uneducated plebeian who speaks only Angliss, and he needs a translator," Louise replied.

"So, he can speak?" Colbert asked.

"Apparently," Louise huffed. "But I've never heard of Angliss before."

"Neither have I," Colbert confessed. "Fascinating. I detect no magic, but to be able to talk without words is unheard of. I wonder where he came from, and if he would be willing to share how he learned such a technique."

"Professor?" Louise asked, puzzled by the enthusiasm in her teacher's voice.

Colbert cleared his throat and regained his professional demeanor. "Yes, my apologies, Miss Valliere," he said. "I have a spell that's normally used to help understanding between dialects, but it may be helpful here." He pointed his staff at Tobias, whose normally stern gaze was now tinged with wariness. "Translation!"

Tobias felt something pass through is throat and ears. It wasn't painful, but it was a strange sensation, like an ethereal breeze passing through his head.

"Boy, can you understand me?" Professor Colbert asked.

"Yes." The answer was curt, and the voice was brusque to match. Tobias sounded like someone who had a severely sore throat, or someone who had not used their voice in a very long time. His voice was pitched to match his age—which Colbert figured was somewhere in his early teens—but it also carried the harsh edge of someone who seen the darker side of humanity.

"How dare you try to order me around!"

Tobias didn't flinch at the sound of someone screaming at him. Turning his head in a straight pivot like a raptor, he eyed Louise as a predator observed the yipping a lesser beast. "Took you long enough," he said.

Louise gaped at Tobias's sheer audacity. "Who are you, commoner, to speak to me this way?" she fumed. "Do you know who I am?"

"No, I don't," Tobias replied impassively. "Does it matter?"

"I'm a noble, you plebeian! Do you have any manners?"

Tobias's stoic expression did not change. "Not really."

"Y-you—"

"Perhaps it would help if you explained the situation, Miss Valliere," Professor Colbert suggested. "I don't think he's from Tristan; he might be from Germania or Gallia."

Tobias was not acquainted with either of those countries—though the former sounded vaguely familiar—but he didn't bother to correct to the balding man.

"Fine," Louise grumbled. "My name is Louise Françoise le Blanc de la Vallière, and you, peasant, have the honor of being my familiar."

"Tobias."

"What?"

"My name is Tobias," Tobias clarified.

"That's all you have to say?" Louise asked incredulously.

"No," he replied. "I have many questions." Much, much more than he would like to have in a situation such as this. "But to stay on topic, what's a familiar?"

Louise still looked annoyed but decided that clarifying would be more productive than more reprimands on his manners, or lack thereof. "A familiar is a mage's lifelong companion," she replied. "Every mage forms a bond with a creature, and that creature serves them until death does them part."

"I can't tell if that's slavery or marriage."

This caused Louise to sputter a collection of words that fervently and incoherently denied both assumptions.

Kirche snorted, drawing the two's attention. "You're such a cutie," she said to Tobias. "It's not often that I see a little boy bold enough to talk so casual to a mage."

Tobias met her eyes, then looked down at her chest, raised his gaze to her hair, before once again meeting her eyes. "Mage as in magic." Despite it being worded as a question, he said it as a statement. There was no other way to explain how she had fiery hair all the way to the roots and the hourglass figure of a disproportioned doll.

"Of course!" Louise exclaimed, completely missing his subtext. "How do you not know this? Were you raised under a rock?"

"I've had very little contact with people for the past seven years of my life. Especially the past four years or so," Tobias admitted freely without an ounce of pride or regret. He said it as a simple fact, as easily as one would say the sun is shining or grass is blue.

His casual admittance gave Louise pause. "Oh, well, I suppose I will forgive you for your ignorance this time," she said. "But you will learn proper manners while I am your master."

"Why would I want you to be my master?"

"What do you mean by—" Louise took a deep breath to calm herself before continuing. "Of course, you probably don't realize what an honor it is to serve as a mage's familiar."

"It is unheard of," Professor Colbert added. "I don't recall any mention of such an event happening. This is history in the making!"

Tobias gave the Professor a look that could be vaguely described as "curious". Of course, it was hard to tell, given his facial muscles gave little away, and his eyes seemed fixed in their perpetual glare. His head swiveled back around towards Louise. "Explain why I would want to be the novel pet of a brat like you."

A chorus of "oohs" rang out across the courtyard. Louise clenched her fist tightly around her wand and pointed it at Tobias. "I've had enough of your insubordination!" she snapped. "You will obey me like a proper familiar, or I will have to discipline you."

Tobias couldn't remember much of what magic was supposed to do. Even as a young boy, he hadn't had much opportunities to enjoy childhood fantasies. But given the threat Louise made, he figured that the stick was designed for something besides hitting people. "Does that stick shoot fire?" he asked.

The expression on Louise's face could curdle milk and set it on fire to boot. "Fireball!" she cried.

"Miss Valliere," Colbert interjected hastily. "At this range—"

Before he could finish, a massive explosion blew up the place Tobias had been standing. Emphasis on the past tense, because the boy hadn't survived an alien war without learning to trust his instincts. By the time Louise's explosion ripped through the place he had been standing, he had landed in a roll a good several yards away. A wall of fire had been erected in front Louise and Colbert, which the professor let down once the danger had passed.

"—an explosion would be very unsafe for everyone involved," Professor Colbert finished. He was relieved to see Louise's summon to be unharmed, though he did wonder how the boy managed to evade the blast without receiving so much as a singe on his near naked body.

"Are you trying to kill me?" Tobias asked.

There was a coolness in his tone which made Louise uneasy, but her pride came first. "That was a lesson in obedience," she said. "A familiar should not disobey their master's orders."

"Actually, Mrs. Valliere, you have yet to complete the ritual," Professor Colbert reminded her. "You still need to seal the contract."

Louise internally felt like slapping herself for missing that obvious detail. "Stupid familiar, distracting me," she grumbled. "Come here so we can finish this."

Tobias looked at Louise straight in the eyes. "No." He turned and started walking away, glaring at the nobles in the circle, who awkwardly stepped aside to let him through.

"Where do you think you're going?" Louise demanded. "You can't just walk away!"

"I'd fly away if I could," Tobias replied without turning around. "What kind of masochist would sign their life away to a sadist who would blow someone up at the drop of a hat? Go find someone else to be your explosion dummy, preferably someone who's into that sort of thing. Or something that won't explode in a shower of blood."

Louise looked a little queasy when Tobias offhandedly mentioned how badly that explosion could have gone. "But you can't leave!" she insisted.

"I must concur," said Professor Colbert, who moved to stand in Tobias's way. "The Familiar Summoning Exam is a sacred ritual. Leaving it incomplete would be sacrilege."

"And?" Tobias's tone conveyed the vast extent he cared about their traditions.

"It would disgrace the teachings of the church and the Founder!" Louise shouted.

Tobias gave Louise a blank look. "Who?"

"Argh! You're an insufferable, insubordinate, rebellious familiar!"

"If I heard the old man correctly, I'm only your familiar after we finish whatever contract you need," Tobias replied. "Not sure how you got a floating eyeball to sign a contract, but you'll have to find something else to sign yours. I'm leaving."

"I insist that you are not," said Professor Colbert firmly.

A shiver went through the students, something easily dismissed a sudden chilling wind. But for Colbert and one student that had tasted the threat of death, they could recognize the unbridled bloodlust emanating from the harmlessly plain-looking boy. "Move," Tobias demanded, frost dripping from his voice.

Colbert was starting to question who or what Louise had summoned. These were not the eyes of a child, traumatized or otherwise. These were the eyes of someone who had killed before and would easily do so again. "As Louise is your summoner, you are obligated to serve her," he insisted. Just in case, he tensed his grip on his staff. He wasn't sure what the boy was capable of, but given that he had apparently communicated to Miss Louise with his mind, the man had to be ready for anything. It would be a shame if he had to kill Louise's familiar, but the safety of his students was his first priority.

To the old man's surprise, his words made Tobias drop his all traces of his previous hostility. "She summoned me?" the boy asked.

"Obviously, I did," Louise affirmed. "A mage has to summon their familiar. The Founder gifted us with a spell that seeks out the most perfect familiar for each mage." She gave him a dirty look. "I can't believe out of any creature I could have summoned in the universe; I got an annoying commoner like you."

Tobias's face twitched. "Were you expecting something like a bird, or perhaps an exotic creature?" he asked.

"I was hoping for something rare and powerful that could best a dragon," Louise grumbled. "Instead I got stuck with you."

Tobias's shoulders shook as he stifled a chuckle. Thankfully, having spent over three years without properly using his human form left his audible amusement as an unrecognizable sound. Even after cheating death, his life was still a cosmic joke. {Tell me, why should I serve you?}

Louise narrowed her eyes. "Stop speaking in my head."

{Answer the question, then we'll see.}

A scowl came over Louise's face, but she realized that Tobias wouldn't be cowed by harsh words alone. "I already told you, it's an honor to serve as a mage's familiar. Even though you're a commoner, you'd be a novelty, at the very least."

{Let me clarify, why should I serve _you_? Specifically.}

"Because I summoned you!"

{And? You brought me here, but what's stopping me from being another mage's familiar? Or just not becoming a familiar at all?}

Louise's first instinct was to scoff, but the thought made her pause. Her familiar had shown no sense of understanding—or caring for—social standing or respect. Demanding that he follow her due to obligation alone was doomed to fail. And while no mage would try to steal another's familiar, if he walked off instead of completing the ritual, not only would she have the dishonor of being the first mage in history to have a familiar reject her, but she would also lose her only chance to become a proper mage and bring honor to her family. Without a familiar, her last hope would fly away, and she would be stuck as a disgraced, unmentioned child. At that point, it would be better for her family if she didn't exist in the first place. Not even being married off would save her family from the results of her failure.

Tobias had asked the question out of cold logic, but he was surprised to see the genuine pain and fear in the girl's eyes. For a moment, a tug on his heart made him feel like _he_ was the bully, when it was clearly the other way around. He would not let himself be swayed so easily by someone who could have killed him in a fit of anger.

Actually, given the force of the explosion, he probably would be able to heal off the damage by morphing long before he died. Apparently, her "Fireball" was more of a smoky concussive blast than a destructive orb of fire. But it was the principle of the matter.

Finally, Louise spoke. "I must become a mage to being honor to my family," she said in a low voice. "I cannot do that without completing my contract with you as a familiar. I don't know what you value, but I can assure you that as my familiar you will have the honor of serving a noble of the house of Valliere. Anything you need can be afforded, and as long as you work hard you will be rewarded."

Tobias let his expression relax a bit, but he still reserved his final judgement. "Honor. Family name. What do those mean to you?" he asked aloud.

"A mage's honor and family—"

{I wasn't asking about mages,} he cut her off, once more reverting to thought-speak. {I asked about _you_.}

Louise blinked. "I-I will become a mage worthy of my parents, siblings, and ancestors," she said, even quieter than before. "I will not be an embarrassment that disgraces them. I will become a proper noble, not a Zero like everyone thinks I am."

Tobias's brown eyes stared into her pink ones. His expression revealed nothing, remaining firm as the seconds passed. Louise found herself unconsciously fidgeting under the intensity of his gaze but willed herself to stare back with as much determination as she could muster.

Finally, Tobias nodded. "Okay."

Louise's eyes lit up, which she tried to cover with a small cough. "Of course," she said. "I knew you'd see it my way."

"Sure," Tobias deadpanned. "Do you have a pen, or do I have to sign with a fingerprint of blood?"

"What are you talking about? That's disgusting!"

"Guess that's not the right type of contract," he said with a shrug. "Show me what I need to do."

Louise stepped forward. "You should be grateful for this," she said. "This is the only time you will get this honor from a noble."

"Just do it before I change my mind," Tobias said drily.

Louise huffed. A treacherous part of Tobias's brain saw the gesture as cute, but he forced himself to not be swayed. He had to remember that she was a dangerous sadist.

Slowly, without breaking eye contact with Tobias, Louise pulled his face close, and pressed her lips to his.

Tobias didn't flinch. Surprised, he was. But despite the gesture, he didn't feel anything personally. Still, he had to ask, {What are you doing?}

Louise pulled away, her face only having the faintest blush. "It's a part of the ceremony," she explained.

"Strange," Tobias commented.

Then pain burst from his left hand. A hissed escaped his clenched teeth as he lifted his hand up to examine it. Letter-like symbols, written in a language he couldn't read, etched on themselves on his hand in a flash of light. "What is this?" he growled.

"Just the runes branding on to your skin," Louise replied.

Tobias had to question if he heard that correctly. "What?"

"It'll be over soon," Louise said calmly.

Tobias, meanwhile, was doing his best to not panic. It had been years since he had felt pain like this, and his instincts were screaming at him to demorph. Demorphing was always easier than morphing. Morphing required consciously picturing the animal you were turning into. Demorphing could be done the same way, but with enough practice, it was closer to pressing the "undo" button. The problem was, he wasn't changing. Despite putting his full focus into "undoing" his morph, no feathers erupted from his skin and no beak formed on his face. Tobias's eyes flew open as the pain and shock overwhelmed his mind. Like a puppet with its strings cut, Tobias collapsed.


	2. In No Uncertain Terms

Tobias was very familiar with the feeling of hay. During the war, meetings were frequently held at the barn of Cassie, one of the other Animorphs. Both of her parents were veterinarians and owned Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic. As the name suggested, it was a place where wildlife animals were treated until they were ready to reenter the wild. It took up half the barn where the Animorphs held their meetings, but that ended up being quite convenient. Since morphing healed almost every non-genetic injury of the acquired animal, the clinic provided a steady supply of new morphs to sample.

If the teens needed some morphs that would not fit in a barn, Cassie once again was their provider. Cassie's mom was the head veterinarian at the Gardens, which was a combination between an amusement park and a zoo. It was from that zoo the Animorphs acquired a lot of commonly used morphs, including their raptor and battle morphs. For Tobias, a red-tailed hawk served both purposes.

While Tobias spent most of his time as a hawk, he did on the rare occasion morph into a human during the meetings. Usually, it was because one of the other Animorphs brought food that couldn't be enjoyed properly with a hawk's palate. Hay carried its own warmth, and despite its scratchy ends, it was better than sleeping on the floor with nothing but a blanket.

The distant memory made Tobias wince as he sat up. He froze. His thoughts had distracted him. He was not in Cassie's barn. He hadn't been to the barn in years. He was in a stone room, sleeping on a thin bed of hay that wasn't nearly as comfortable as the hay piles he remembered. The room didn't smell of manure and old hay. It smelled… a lot like a girl's bedroom.

Tobias's eyes darted around the room. A door, in front of him, easily reached in a quick sprint. Wall on his right. Stone. A wardrobe behind him. A bed on his left side. Diagonally on his left sat a little girl whose hair was a ridiculously vivid shade of pink. She was dressed in a magenta negligee that was quite thin. Tobias wondered if she wore it to avoid heat, or because it looked adult. The curious, but oddly detached gaze she had on him did not cue him to either side.

Gradually, Tobias remembered what had happened before he passed. He checked his left hand to be certain his mind wasn't playing tricks on him. Sure enough, symbols were written across the back of his hand. He rubbed his fingers over the marks. He felt no pain, and they didn't smudge. It looked like a tattoo, but he had felt them burn into his hand.

"Are you done looking like a spooked animal?" Louise asked.

Tobias looked at her dead in the eyes. Louise maintained eye contact for as long as she dared, but when matched against his unblinking stare, the mage had to look away. "Stop looking at me like that!"

"Are you pouting?" Tobias asked.

"No!"

Tobias rolled his eyes at the obvious denial, but moved his stare to the window on the other side of the room instead. Seeing the red rays of sunset, his lips curled into the smallest of frowns. "How long as I asleep?"

"Most of the day," Louise replied. While Tobias didn't make a major shift in his facial expression, Louise noticed his body slump when he heard her response. "You made me worry, you know? None of the other students had their familiars pass out from getting their runes."

"Have you ever had your hand burned off?"

Louise flinched at Tobias words, which were delivered in a strangely conversational tone. "W-what? No!"

"Getting these things—" Tobias lazily waved his left hand, "—was almost as painful as burning my hand off entirely. Also, I'd had a long day, so you'll have to excuse me for not being able to stay on my feet."

"You had your hand burned off before?"

He nodded and shrugged. "It happens."

"No," Louise retorted. "Losing a hand is _not_ something that just happens! I don't even know if a water mage could heal that!"

Tobias's only response was to give a non-committal shrug.

Louise's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "You're not lying to me, are you?"

"I don't see the point in lying," Tobias replied frankly. "Lies are only used when you have something to conceal. Since I'm pretty sure you own me, there's nothing I need to hide from you."

"Th-that's right!" Louise said, gaining a confident smile. "I, Louise de la Valliere, am your master. And you will serve as my faithful familiar!"

"Yes," Tobias said with a voice as flat and dry as a sheet of parchment. "We both know that. Was there a reason to say it out loud?"

"I can say whatever I want!"

"I never said you couldn't."

"Stop being disrespectful!"

"Everything I say is spoken with the highest respect I have."

"Grah!" Louise walked over to the bed and flopped face first into it. "You're so infuriating!"

Tobias didn't bother to respond to that.

Louise slowly pulled herself onto her knees. Then she turned around and faced her familiar, sitting on her bed with her knees up. The position left her lower body very exposed if she moved her feet, but Tobias decided to keep his attention on the window to avoid that scenario.

"Hey," Louise said softly. Tobias turned his head towards her, but kept his eyes trained on her face. The young mage looked embarrassed as she continued, "I'll make sure you don't regret being my familiar. I swear it on my honor."

"Is there a reason I would regret it?" Tobias asked.

"No."

Tobias's eyes bore into hers, making Louise uncomfortable as she tried to maintain eye contact. Surprisingly, this time her familiar turned away first. "Keep your secrets if you wish," he said.

"You're not concerned?" Louise asked in surprise.

"Whatever your secret is, I doubt it's going to kill me," Tobias replied. "If you don't feel like sharing, I'm not going to force you."

"That's right," said Lousie, her voice regaining her using commanding vigor—or brattiness, as Tobias considered it. "As my familiar, you live to serve me. You should follow my orders without question."

"If you tell me to jump off a cliff I will refuse."

"I wouldn't order something that would get you killed!" Louise protested. "What I want is an honest and clear answer from you."

Tobias nodded. Louise looked unnaturally serious, so he could tell it was a serious question.

Louise took a deep breath to steady herself. Then, she asked, "Why did you accept my offer?" You didn't seem to care about my family's money or noble position, so what influenced your decision?"

It wasn't the question he expected, but Tobias could see where she was coming from. He had come across as cold and uncaring, so it was naturally that she would question his about face in accept becoming a spoiled child's pet. Tobias leaned his back against the wall as he crafted a suitable response. "I know nothing about this place," he admitted. "I don't know what the value of money is, how much a noble rank matters, or anything that a person from here would find of value. All I can judge is a person's intentions. And you, Louise, although you're a bit spoiled, you seem like a semi-decent person."

"Spoiled?" Louise echoed indignantly. "Semi-decent! How dare you?"

"Proving my point exactly." Seeing Louise pout, Tobias offered another tidbit. "While you're a bit of a brat, I do owe you my life," he admitted begrudgingly. As Louise made a confused expression, he continued, "I might as well play along with your weird pet fetish for now."

"P-p-pet fetish!" Louise sputtered.

"I mean, using a human as a familiar instead of animal or whatever, isn't that weird?"

"It wasn't on purpose!" she insisted.

"Then were you trying a summon a hawk, or an Andalite?"

"What in Brimir's name is an Andalite? And I wasn't choosing anything! The spell selects the familiar most suited for the mage!"

"Based on what?"

"Elemental affinity for one," Louise replied with a sigh. "I was hoping to summon a normal familiar so I could find out my element."

Tobias looked at her blankly. "Are we talking about the periodic table or fantasy stuff?"

"A what table?"

"Fantasy mumbo jumbo it is," Tobias concluded. "I think Marco told me about this before; weren't they Fire, Water, Earth, Air, and Lightning?"

"Whoever this Marco is, he surely isn't a mage," Louise sniffed. "Lighting is not an element, it's a subset of triangle class and higher wind magic. The elements are Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, and Void. Void is the lost element, only used by the Founder, Brimir. All mages are capable using at least one of the four other elements. This is basic information for even a child."

Tobias didn't respond to the slight as he delivered his own barb. "Given the way you almost killed me, I'm guessing you're fire."

"I wasn't trying to kill you!" Louise protested. "And no, I'm not fire. My explosions lack the heat of a fire spell. And whatever smoke is generated doesn't come from a proper flame."

"Wind then?" Tobias supposed.

"Didn't I already say I was trying to find my element?" Louise asked angrily. "My explosions don't even count as magic because they don't fit under any of the four elements!"

"Well, that's stupid."

"How so?" she asked carefully.

"I know from experience that there are certain sticks you can point at people to blow them up," Tobias replied. "The twig you had was not one of them. If that isn't magic, then I don't know what is."

Louise sighed. She had hoped that her familiar had an insightful observation for once. "It's not proper magic because it can't be classified," she explained. "My explosions don't make any sense."

"It's effective at destroying things and killing people, that makes it pretty sensible in my book."

"Why is your first thought to kill people?" Louise asked angrily. "I'm not that kind of person!"

"You're not?"

"No!"

"Oh," Tobias gave her an apologetic nod. "My bad then."

Louise highly suspected he was mocking her, but she had quickly learned that Tobias was hard to corner thanks to his immaculate poker face. "And on that note," she said. "Why are you so obsessed with talking about people dying? That's a disturbing conversation topic."

"Prior experience, don't worry about it."

"Somehow, that does not set me at ease," Louise said drily.

Tobias shrugged. "I'm not really good at making people feel comfortable."

"Ugh, you're such a pain." Louise flopped onto her bed. Tobias subtly diverted his attention back toward the window and away from her mostly exposed thighs. "We have a lot to talk about tomorrow, don't sleep in."

"I'm an early riser," Tobias assured her.

Louise gave an incoherent mumble as she slipped under covers. Tobias waited until her breathing to even out, and then stood up. He crossed the front of the bed and stood by the window. He down looked at Louise's sleeping face. Like this, she looked vulnerable, cute, almost. Nothing like the passive-aggressive, fiercely blushing annoying brat she normally was. Still, she wasn't a bad kid. As far as people went, there were plenty worse he could owe a life debt to.

Tobias's gaze moved towards the night sky. In the years he had spent away from civilization after the conclusion of the war, he had become very familiar with the positions of the stars. He could tell with a glance at the night sky that he was not on earth anymore. A lack of familiar constellations aside, there was an extra moon hanging in the sky.

New moon.

New stars.

New chance of life.

Tobias looked down at his human hand. How long had it been since he had used his human body? He was surprised that he remembered how to walk. If he didn't want to take some embarrassing tumbles, he needed to relearn how to move around without wings. Louise hadn't meant to stick him in human morph, he knew that, but he also knew that regardless of her intentions, he had passed his time limit.

The two-hour time limit to morphing wasn't a hard and fast rule. Tobias had witnessed the other Animorphs go over their time limit before with no side effects. However, the two-hour mark was a rough approximate for when it became difficult to demorph. And if someone failed to demorph in time, they would be trapped in whatever body they were currently in. This included partial morphs as well.

Such was the fate of a Nothlit, one who had timed out their morphing ability. There was no true cure. While the Escafil device—or morphing cube, as the Animorphs called it—could give someone the ability to morph, it was a one time use only. Once the power was given, it could not be reset. Only if the creature you morphed into had a natural evolutionary process, i.e. a caterpillar turning into a butterfly, could you restart the morphing ability. Otherwise, you were trapped, forever,

That was the fate Tobias had faced during the Animorph's first mission against the Yeerks. He had remained in morph, hiding from the Yeerks, until his time had long passed. At the time, he didn't particularly care. His mother was in a mental institute, and her brother and sister passed him around like an unwanted pet. As a hawk, Tobias had more freedom than he did as a human. He didn't have to attend school or be trapped in a house with people he couldn't stand. A meadow not too far from Cassie's house was his territory. The local wildlife were his meals. He could provide constant reconnaissance for the rest of the Animorphs who still had normal lives.

But being a hawk left him with very little options in life and for combat. Ellimist, the grandfatherly cosmic entity that subtly forced the Animorphs to come together, granted Tobias a boon. The boy turned hawk regained his morphing ability, and later, through a trippy dream, managed to acquire his old human body. However, his default form was still a hawk. He could pretend to be a human for about two hours at a time, but that was it. Additionally, his human body never aged, so every time Tobias became human, he felt like he was wearing a skin that he had outgrown.

Tobias was no longer human. In fact, it had been a long time since he thought himself as one. His mother was a human. His father was an Andalite Prince. He was human-nothlit turned hawk. He had considered morphing into his human form and being trapped once again, but he never could do it. Regaining his full humanity would leave him unable to participate in the war, and he wouldn't abandon his friends as they continued to risk their lives on the frontlines.

Not while _she_ was fighting on the front lines.

Tobias sank to the cold, stone floor. He didn't cry. He couldn't even remember how to cry. But for the first time in who knew how long, he felt like he needed to release the emotions he had been dealing with for years. So much pent-up anger and sadness, and he couldn't even fly away. If he could just be a hawk again, just for this night, he would be able to take to the skies and soar long enough to get the feelings out of his system. Sadly, that would not be happening anymore.

Well, wishing for things to happen never got anyone anywhere. Tobias decided to go to sleep and deal with everything in the morning. He rose to his feet, or at least attempted to. Instead, he promptly fell flat on his face. Tobias tried to push himself up with his arms, but found that he couldn't even feel his hands anymore.

"What the hell?" Tobias rolled onto his back, thankful that Louise seemed to be a pretty heavy sleeper. He sat up and looked in surprise when he saw scales running across his scarily thin calves. "What the hell!"

Tobias looked down at his arms, at this point only half-surprised to see them bent at an odd angle and covered in feather-like patterns. Concentrating, he focused on his human body, and watched his skin and bones rearrange themselves. Then, he focused on his hawk body. He clearly pictured everything from his wings to his talons. In less than a minute, he found himself standing on the stone floor in the avian body he had used for over six years.

With a triumphant screech, Tobias flapped his wings and perched on the windowsill. The sun had set, which normally meant it would be too dark for flying, but the extra moon in the sky provided the extra illumination Tobias needed. He could see that there was plenty of open space as long as he avoided the stone walls and towers. Ruffling his feathers and spreading his wings, he prepared to take his first flight in this new world.

* * *

Tobias was perched in the window of Louise's bedroom. The golden rays of the rising sun illuminated his back, sending his shadow across Louise's body. The noble girl slept peacefully, looking much more amicable than she did when she was awake. Stray strands of bright pink hair fluttered around her nose to the rhythm of her steady breathing.

And Louise was worried about _him_ sleeping in.

While Louise never mentioned exactly when she needed to be awake, Tobias was used to being up with the sun. Today had been an exception. He had gone for a flight before the sun was even up. The dawn was nice. Even on a different planet, sunrises were still one of the greatest sights in in nature.

Watching Louise sleep was surprisingly soothing, but Tobias figured that she had spent enough time snoozing. His shadow stretched and distorted as his wings retracted into spindly limbs. His legs exponentially increased in size, almost causing him to lose his balance and fall out of the window. Only the quick transition to resting on his knees saved him from a terrifying tumble. Feathers receded into his pale skin as his bones made several contortions that made for a disturbing shadow performance. After less than a minute, he was knelling on Louise's windowsill, fully human.

Tobias stepped down onto the stone floor of Louise's room. He found it fascinating that despite the lack of modern tools, the floors were almost smooth, with the just slightest amount of grit for traction. It should have been impossible given the country's level of technology, but then again, magic existed. Who could say what counted as impossible anymore?

"Louise, wake up," Tobias said, standing next to Louise's bed.

The young mage continued to sleep soundly. While it was cute to watch, Tobias couldn't let her sleep in any longer.

{Wake up already,} he projected through thought-speak.

Louise's face scrunched up in reflex. She blearily opened her eyes, not recognizing Tobias in her sleep-addled state. "Who is it?" she asked drowsily.

"Your new pet."

Louise shot up immediately. "Don't say that," she shouted at him, throwing a pillow at his face.

The harmless projectile sailed by Tobias's head as he stepped aside. The pillow hit the corner of the window and fell to the ground with a dull fwump. "It's true," Tobias said pointedly.

"Shut up!"

Tobias obediently did so, watching Louise grumble and get out of bed with an amused twinkle in his eye. It was times like these that made him appreciate his lack of natural facial expressions. It certainly made it easier to hide his amusement.

Louise stumbled to her wardrobe and flung it open. Grabbing her clothes, she ordered Tobias, "Help me change."

Tobias stared at her back.

Louise took off her nightgown, leaving herself clad in only her underwear. "Hurry up already," she commanded.

"You want me to do what?" Tobias asked, keeping his eyes perfectly level with hers. Given that he was slightly taller than her and a short distance away, it was difficult not to notice the rest of her body. At least she was underdeveloped, so lack of clothing aside, there was nothing to pull at his gaze.

"Change me!"

"How?"

Louise whirled around looking at him incredulously. "Help me put on my clothes," she said slowly, as if speaking to a daft child.

"Can't you do it yourself?"

"That's not the point," Louise insisted. "You're my familiar, you should help me with these things. It's simple enough, isn't it?"

"I wouldn't know, I don't wear girl clothes," Tobias pointed out. "In fact, I don't wear much clothes at all."

Louise took a second look at the clothes, or lack thereof, that clad her familiar's near naked form. "I need to buy you some clothes," she grumbled as she turned back to her wardrobe.

Seeing Louise move to dress herself; Tobias went back to the window. He wanted to go for another flight, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to let Louise know about his abilities yet. There was no reason to hide his powers. After all, he was only here to serve as her magic pet. But old habits died hard. Additionally, it'd be very awkward to bring up. What was he supposed to say? "I'm actually a half-alien with the ability to turn into any creature I touch." There was no way _that_ would ever fit neatly into a conversation.

"Are you done daydreaming?" Louise asked irritably.

Tobias turned to see that Louise was fully dressed and standing by the open door. In her hands she held a folded-up shirt and pants. "I suppose," he said flatly. "Who are the clothes for?"

"You," she said. "It appears someone was kind enough to drop off clothes for you. They'll have to do until I can get you some proper attire. Get dressed so we can leave already."

Tobias took the clothes from her and did as she asked. Louise didn't close the door to the room, and he didn't ask her to. He had already paraded around the school in only his underwear; he didn't have anything to hide. The pants were a bit long and sat low on his waist, leaving the elastic top of his underwear exposed. The shirt, being equally ill-fitting, made up for that by falling halfway down his thighs. Tobias knew he would never be able to run in his current outfit, but at least he now appeared "decent".

It had been a long while since he had worn a proper outfit. Back in the day, when he was still a human boy, he hadn't had much clothes or had an eye for fashion. After he became a hawk, he owned no clothes to his name. Whenever he needed to go out in human form, he relied on Rachel to arrange his outfit. She was even the one who picked out the underwear he was currently wearing. It was a part of the last outfit she had chosen for him before she had—

"If you're done let's get moving," said Louise, tapping her foot impatiently.

Tobias nodded, mentally shaking away the depressing thoughts. He followed Louise as she stepped out of the room, closing the door behind himself.

The walk allowed Tobias to scope out the interior of the building. He had managed to get an aerial view the night before—the extra moon provided great illumination—but now he needed to learn where everything was relative to his overhead map. It appeared that they resided in a dorm building. Everyone they passed in the nearest halls looked older than Louise, but they all wore the same dark blue robes. As they reached what appeared to be a common area, Tobias could see other students with different colored robes. Most of the older looking students had purple robes, and the younger ones—looking closer to Louise's age—had brown robes.

"Is this a three-year school?" Tobias asked Louise.

"Yes," Louise answered with surprise in her voice. "How did you know?"

"Three different robe colors," Tobias replied.

Louise nodded "You're correct. Every year has a different colored robe. The freshmen wear brown robes. Juniors such as myself wear black. And the seniors wear violet."

Tobias eyed her cloak, and the similar ones he saw on other students. "Your robes are blue," Tobias corrected. "A very dark shade of blue, but they're still blue."

"Don't be absurd," said Louise. "They are black."

"Have you looked at them?" Tobias deadpanned.

Louise whirled around. "They. Are. Black," she insisted.

Tobias just stared at her in bland disinterest. Huffing, Louise turned back around and resumed walking. "Is it really that big of a deal?" the boy wondered.

To be fair to both parties, the blue was dark enough to appear black. If Tobias wasn't used to modern clothes being solid black, he probably wouldn't have given the color a second thought.

The duo's destination became evident as Tobias picked up the mouthwatering aroma of food. He could pick up the smell of cooked meet and some kind of bread, but most of the scents were unfamiliar to him. He trailed Louise closely as she took a seat at the end of a long table. Tobias looked at Louise, and then at the empty seat next to her. "Do I sit down?" he asked her.

"Yes, you may."

Tobias pulled back a chair, but Louise raised a hand to stop him. "Familiars don't sit on chairs," she insisted.

Tobias stared at her. "Where else would I sit?" he had to ask.

"On the floor."

A look into Louise's eyes told Tobias that the girl was serious. He surveyed the other patrons of the cafeteria, noting that despite none of the familiars having their own chair, they were all seated on or nearby their masters. A parrot was perched on the back of one chair. A cat sat in its owner's lap. A floating eyeball hovered by its master. A dog sat under the chair of its master.

Tobias shrugged. "I'd rather not perch on your chair, so I'll take this one," he said, sitting down.

"The seats are for nobles," Louise hissed.

Tobias shrugged. {I could share your chair if you want,} he said mentally. {But I think I'm a bit too big for that.}

"Stop speaking in my head!" Nearby heads turned to Louise, who fought down a fierce blush. In a whisper, she said, "How are you even doing that?"

"Long story. You wouldn't believe it." Seriously, he'd probably be dragged off to whatever this world's version of a looney bin was.

Louise looked at him suspiciously, but was distracted when a maid with short black hair came around with a tray of food. "We'll talk about this later," she promised him.

The maid's eyes lingered on Tobias as she set the tray down, but when she noticed him staring back, she blushed and turned her head away. Giving a hurried bow to Louise, the maid dashed away like frightened animal.

Tobias looked in surprise at the spread placed in front of Louise. There was fruit, some kind of thick porridge, bacon, eggs, a flaky triangular pastry, toast, milk and water set out on the tray. It reminded him of the food pyramids he did in school many years ago, but there was easily enough food for two people in that meal. Looking at Louise's petite figure, it unlikely that the girl would be able to finish it all by herself.

It came as no surprise that Louise gave some food from her meal to Tobias as his breakfast. What did surprise him was the portion he was given. "Toast?" he asked.

"This is the bread that nobles eat," Louise informed him. "Commoners sometimes dream about having this much as a luxury. You should be grateful that I'm letting you eat from my portion instead of giving you a commoner meal."

"Huh." Tobias wasn't sure how misguided Louise was to assume that he would be thankful with such a paltry portion. Thankfully, he would be able to morph into a hawk and get his own real breakfast. As long as his meal was properly digested as a hawk, the energy would last him until lunch. He wasn't quite sure how that process worked, but he chalked it up to the mysterious benefits of morphing.

Tobias nibbled on his bread. It was rougher and denser than the store-bought bread he was used to, but it tasted great in comparison. While he'd prefer an actual meal, given the time period this world appeared to be in, he could see people dreaming about enjoying the morsel he held in his hand.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" A sultry voice asked teasingly.

Louise whirled around quickly. "Kirche von Zerbst," she said venomously.

Tobias turned around at a more moderate speed. Standing behind them was a girl with the largest bust he'd ever seen. If it wasn't for the dark blue—not black—robe she wore, Tobias would assume that she was an adult woman instead of a teenager. Her skin was a coppery tan that stood out amongst the generally fair-skinned nobles. Fiery red hair fell down to her waist and covered one of her eyes. In Tobias's opinion, she looked like a model who belonged on the cover of a fashion magazine. Given the excessive cleavage she displayed, she could easily fit on a less reputable magazine line as well.

Standing to the tanned girl's side was a girl with short blue hair. Like her companion, her robe indicated that she was the same class as Louise, but she looked even smaller than the pinkette, and that was saying something. From behind a pair of red glasses, her aquamarine eyes briefly looked at Louise, and then him, before returning to a small book she held in one hand. In her other hand she carried a shepherd's crook, which looked out of place to Tobias.

Curled around the two's feet was a large red lizard. It was about as long as a small alligator and on all fours, it reached up to Zerbst's knees. The creature was nuzzling the redhead leg with the affection of a dog, but Tobias was wary of it. For all he knew it was some species of wingless dragon that would burn his hand off if he even looked at it the wrong way. That, and the end of its tail was on fire. A weapon on a tail was a clear indicator of a dangerous alien creature.

"Louise de la Valliere," Kirche said with exaggerated sweetness. "Funny meeting you here."

"What do you want?" Louise growled.

"Is it wrong to simply say hello?" The buxom girl asked. Seeing Louise's glare, she gave a fake pout. "Well, if you insist, I did want to take a look at your familiar. After all of your boasting of summoning the best familiar that ever existed, I wanted to see what you ended up with. I saw your commoner boy almost walk off from you during the ceremony, how embarrassing."

Louise glared at Tobias, who continued to nibble at his toast. "See, this what happens when you don't act like a proper familiar," she lectured him. "You've already made a fool of me."

"Do a better job explaining the process next time," Tobias replied. "It took you way too long to get to the point that you were the one who summoned me."

"Who else would it be?"

"I dunno, maybe an old sage who wanted me to go on a suicidal quest to save the world?"

Louise and Kirche looked baffled by his carefree suggestion. "Who would send you of all people for something like that?" Louise scoffed.

Kirche laughed loudly, holding the back of her hand to her mouth but not even attempting to hide her mirth "Trouble in paradise?" Kirche asked Louise. "It's such a shame that you didn't get a familiar like my Flame." She bent over, giving the two an unnecessarily exposed view of her cleavage, and picked up her familiar. "He's such a friendly and powerful salamander, perfectly fitting me as a Triangle class fire mage."

Flame certainly looked at them friendly enough, but despite the physical resemblance, Tobias could not imagine the large lizard as a slimy amphibian. It had sleek scales, but it radiated warmth, and he was pretty sure that amphibians were cold blooded. When Flame stretched out its neck towards Tobias, he sat perfectly still. The oversized salamander licked Tobias's face. Tobias held still, waiting. Seeing that Flame only continued to lick him, he decided the lizard was safe enough. Stretching out his hand slowly, Tobias scratched Flame under its chin. Flame's face relaxed as it enjoyed the scratching, and it became even calmer when Tobias worked on acquiring its DNA.

"Your familiar has some nimble fingers," Kirche praised. Tobias detected an undertone, but he did not recognize what it meant. "I wonder if that's all he's good for?"

"I would like to continue our dining in peace," said Louise with gritted teeth.

"You're breaking my heart," Kirche said in faux pain. "I suppose being outshone does hurt a girl's appetite. After all, a Zero such as yourself has little going for you magically or physically." She puffed her chest as she said this, irritating Louise even further.

"Just ignore her," said Tobias. He stuffed the last of the toast into his mouth and stole the water off of Louise's tray to wash it down. Ignoring her glare, he swiped an oversized sleeve across his mouth and continued, "Bullies get a kick when they see a reaction. If you don't react, they often fly away like the bugs they are." He failed to mention that other times the bullies would start swinging, and those were the ones he was used to.

While Kirche looked surprised at first, she gave him a genuine smile instead of looking offended. "Your familiar has some spunk Little Louise," she said with a laugh. "But do you really think of me as bully? That hurts. It's just friendly teasing."

"There was nothing friendly about it," Tobias deadpanned. "Buzz off."

In direct opposition to his words, Kirche released Flame and leaned over Tobias's chair. Kirche was well versed in the art of seduction. She knew that any boy of his age would be off put by her position. Tobias's eyes were almost level with her chest, and while seated, it would be hard for him to shift his gaze. His initial glance at her chest at the beginning of the conversation had been brief, but the boy definitely noticed her assets, as any normal person would. This position would serve as the breaking point to any hot-blooded young male.

"Now I'm feeling like you're bullying me," she pouted. "You shouldn't make a girl cry."

To Kirche's surprise, Tobias's gaze didn't waver from her eyes. "Are you done making a fool of yourself?" he asked. "If you are, get out of my face."

His expression and tone were perfectly even. Despite the close proximity between the two of them, he didn't look nervous or flushed. His eyes held the slightest glare to show he was annoyed, but he otherwise showed no emotion. Kirche was intrigued. Even older men who had rejected her advances had shown that they were struggling to resist their latent desires. This was the first boy she had met who had displayed no interest in her at all despite seeing her magnificent body.

Not only that, but he was insulting her to her face, even though she was a noble and he was commoner. Even worse, he was the familiar of Louise the Zero. If anything, he should be differing to Kirche or clutching to his master. Given their earlier bickering, he didn't regard her as a master like a servant should. And yet, instead of disciplining him, Louise exchanged banter with him as freely as she did with her oldest rival. No, when Kirche considered Louise's expression, she was arguing with him more freely than the redhead had seen before.

Kirche stepped back from Tobias's chair. "What an interesting familiar you summoned Louise," she said. "Who is he? Where did he come from?"

"I believe we both made it perfectly clear that we don't appreciate your company," Louise growled.

"It's just a simple question or two," Kirche said slyly.

{Ignore her,} said Tobias. Louise jerked at the mental intrusion, shooting him a glare. He met her with an even look as he continued, {She's trying to get a final rise out of you. Don't take the bait.}

Louise gave an almost indiscernible nod as she returned to her food. True to Tobias's words, Kirche, after seeing that neither of the two were going to respond, crossed her arms and walked away, her salamander right on her heels. "Come on, Tabitha!" she called over her shoulder. After a second, Tobias and Louise heard the soft footsteps of the shorter mage pad away.

Once the other two mages were gone, Louise whispered to Tobias, "How did you know how to get them to leave?"

"Bullies always want something out of their pestering," Tobias replied. "Some want physical goods, but Kirche was just looking for amusement. Compared to some people I've known, she's harmless."

"She's a triangle class fire mage," Louise deadpanned.

"I have no clue what that means," Tobias informed her.

"She's one of the strongest students in the entire school," Louise clarified. "And that's including the seniors. Most mages graduate as a dot, or at best, a line class mage. She's already reached a level of magical ability that many mages take most of their lives to accomplish."

"What is a monster like that doing as a student?" Tobias asked incredulously.

"You can't be a proper noble without graduating from a Magic Academy," Louise explained. "And the Tristan Magic Academy is the best school in Halkegenia. That's why a Germanian barbarian like her is studying here."

Tobias hummed thoughtfully. "So, you need to have a magic degree so you can bomb cities in fire?" he asked.

"Why is _that_ the first thing you think of?" she asked incredulously.

"You called her a barbarian, and she specializes in fire," Tobias said logically. "Obviously, that means she's from a warlike people, and with her talent she'd be very proficient in widespread destruction and scorched earth tactics."

Louise stared at him in horrific disbelief. "What is wrong with you?" she squeaked.

Tobias blinked. "Did I guess wrong?" he asked.

Louise stood up and shook her head. "I'm not dealing with this," she said half to herself. "I'm going to pretend I did not hear my familiar talking about war crimes like he was commenting on the weather." She walked away, muttering under her breath.

Seeing that she had left her tray behind, Tobias helped himself to her leftovers. As he had expected, it was definitely a meal for two.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To answer some questions:  
> Yes, Tobias can morph. I'll let you guess the hows and whys.  
> Tobias's morphing is not necessarily inhibited or enhanced by magic. He doesn't even know how to use magic, so even if he was in someone else's body... well, let's just say he'd probably end up doing worse than Louise.
> 
> Anywho, got another question or comment? Talk to me! I love feedback. It helps me grow. And always remember, comments are food for a writer's soul!


	3. What Makes a Noble?

With a full stomach and no responsibilities, Tobias decided to go for a walk outside. The cafeteria had plenty of open space, but nothing beat the outdoors.

Tobias took a moment to breath in the fresh breeze of clean air. Back on Earth, it was very hard to find air that smelled this pure. Even out in the forested wilderness, the fumes of car exhaust and such would carry for miles. But here, there was only the rich scents of nature rolled together with the fragrant wisps from a hearty breakfast buffet.

Tobias looked out on the open courtyard. Grass stretched up until the large stone walls that surrounded the academy. On the lawn surrounding the cafeteria, sets of white chairs and tables were set up. The chairs were simple in design, but the soft pink cushion on each seat looked expensive for the primitive era this world was currently in. The tables were similarly designed in a simplistic but noticeably expensive way. They were round, and large enough to sit four people comfortably.

Black robed mage students, normally in groups of two or three, sat or stood around these tables. Each student was accompanied by a creature Tobias correctly assumed to be their familiar. It was as if Louise's entire class had set aside the day to spend time with their new pets.

"Aren't they supposed to be having classes?" the human familiar wondered aloud.

With a shake of his head, Tobias moved to walk past the tables. From his morning flight, he had noticed that the main gate on the southern border of the academy was left unguarded. Feeling the urge to take to the skies and explore, he headed in that direction. While he could morph inside the Academy, he didn't want to take the chance of running into someone. Until he better learned the best hiding spots of the Academy, he decided it would be best to only morph in Louise's room, or outside the walls where no one could accidentally run into him. Tobias doubted Louise would need his presence anytime soon, and if while flying overhead he spotted her looking for him, he could easily fly away, demorph, and come back.

Weaving through the throng of nobles, Tobias could feel many eyes on him. He could hear words spoken lowly, but not low enough to be considered proper whispers.

"That's the commoner that Louise summoned."

"Yeah, as if we would fall for that."

"Scrawny looking thing, isn't he?"

"I know. You would think that if she was trying to hide her lack of talent, she would pretend to summon a commoner with some visual appeal."

"I wonder how much she paid for him to parade around in a loincloth?"

"It's no wonder he almost walked away from her; it's such an embarrassment."

"The familiar of Zero? What a terrible title to have."

Tobias took in the words with a scowl. Teenagers truly were the pettiest species in the entire universe. Now he could see why Louise seemed desperate to have him as badge of accomplishment. In an environment like this, she was probably starved for a break in success. That still didn't excuse her for being a spoiled brat, but Tobias could at least sympathize Louise for her situation.

While Tobias's intention was to storm through the nobles and get outside the walls without any interruptions, his ears were drawn to the sound of angered yelling. Out of habit from his time in the wilds as a hawk, his head rotated towards the sound.

Peering through a growing ring of black-robed students, Tobias could see the back of a tall, blond noble boy. The noble was moving with animated gestures, and while Tobias couldn't make out the words, the tone of anger was clear. In front of the blond was a serving girl in a with sort black hair. In fact, Tobias recognized her as the one who had served Louise at breakfast. While the Tobias couldn't see the boy's face from his position, he could see that the maid's bright blue eyes were brimming with tears.

Tobias reminded himself that it was none of his business. The only reason he was even sticking around was because he owed Louise a life debt, and he really had nowhere else to go. There was no reason for him to involve himself in affairs that were probably inconsequential in the grand scheme of things.

With this reminder in mind, Tobias found himself pushing into the crowd of students surrounding the two. "What's going on?" he asked the nearest student, a pudgy blond-haired boy with a curl of hair that centered on his forehead.

The blonde didn't even look at Tobias as he respond. "Guiche finally got caught two-timing his girlfriend again. Both girls slapped him right on the cheeks. It was a sight to behold."

Typical scummy teen behavior, Tobias mentally grumbled. "So, what's going on now?" Tobias asked, watching and listening as Guiche berated the maid for, quote, _ruining his good image_.

"He's reprimanding the commoner for blowing his cover, obviously," the pudgy boy replied.

"Is that so?" Tobias responded with a dangerous edge to his voice.

The student finally looked at Tobias, and nearly jumped out of his skin. While it was a surprise to see Louise's plebian familiar instead of a fellow student, what really creeped him out was the look in Tobias's eye. The smaller boy's face was as dead as a day-old fish, but the look in his eyes made the noble believe he would be the next fish to die. The noble boy took a shaky step back as Tobias proceeded to step forward.

"Please, I can't lose my job!" the maid was begging the noble boy.

"You should have thought of that before you got in the way between a man and his heart's desire," the noble retorted with a haughty sneer.

"Only an animal blindly chases after its desire." The maid and noble's attention were pulled to the side as Tobias continued to stride forward. "I've seen dogs in heat with better self-control."

"Who are—oh, you're Louise the Zero's familiar, aren't you," Guiche said with an arrogant chuckle. "And just who do you think you're calling a dog?"

Tobias shook his head. "I wouldn't call you a dog," he said.

Guiche lifted his chin up with pride, but Tobias was not finished.

"To call you one would be an insult to canines everywhere," Tobias deadpanned. "You're more of an ill-mannered mutt, sniffing the butt of everything that resembles a female, and even some things that do not."

There were a few loud snorts from the surrounding students, and Tobias could spy more than few that were desperately trying to hold back their laughter. Some students, however, were openly laughing to Tobias's half-joke.

The human familiar was long out of practice in the art of trash talking, but he remembered the basic idea. Insult a person. Insult them some more. Finally, insult them and their mother. As long as the insults were biting enough, it would get under anyone's skin.

Guiche, as it turned out, had extremely thin skin. Tobias was only getting warmed up and the tips of the noble's ear were already turning pink. "You dare make a mockery of me, Guiche de Gramont?" he asked furiously.

"You were doing a great job long before I showed up," Tobias said, continuing his deadpan delivery.

Tobias stepped even closer, now headed directly to Guiche. As he did so, he moved one of his hands behind the small of his back and made a small shooing motion to the maid. It took a few tries, but as Guiche grew redder in the face as he struggled to make a comeback, eventually the maid recognized his signal and began to slowly creep away. The ring of students didn't part for her escape, but they didn't stop her either, as they were much more concerned with the latest action happening in front of them.

"I see the Zero needs to work on disciplining her subordinates," Guiche finally gritted out. "Children like you should know better."

"What does that say about you?" Tobias asked, tilting his head to the side. "Shouldn't someone your age know better than to toy around with women? Or is that what you learned as a child?"

Tobias could hear people choking around him. That, and the fact that most of the laughter had dried up, cued him in that he had probably taken the insults too far. Still, mission accomplished. The maid was long gone, and Guiche was probably so angry at Tobias that he probably forgot the maid's face already.

"You have insulted not just me, but my father, and my family name," Guiche declared. "You, familiar of Louise the Zero, I challenge you to a duel!"

"I'll pass," Tobias declined immediately.

A dark sneer spread across Guiche's face. "Are you such a coward that you will not face me in honorable combat?" he challenged.

"What about you is honorable?" Tobias asked. "All I see is a spoiled brat throwing a temper tantrum because he got caught sneaking two cookies instead of one."

Guiche's expression faltered as the crowd once again broke into giggles. Tobias could recognize Guiche's bullying type. He relied on an audience to inflate his pride, but when the crowd turned against him, he lacked the confidence to stand his ground. He was like a common fowl, puffing his feathers to appear larger than he was to hide his lack of power. However, Tobias was a hawk. He stood with or without the crowd, never flinching, and only giving flight when he was in way over his head.

And this schoolyard bully wasn't even a challenge.

"I will report you to the Headmaster!" Guiche declared. His voice was authoritative, but his eyes were wavering against Tobias's steady gaze. "You and that maid will be punished for disrespecting a noble!"

Tobias mentally cursed. His trick to distract Guiche from the maid didn't work quite as well as he intended. It was time to up the ante. "What makes a noble?" Tobias asked, adding a touch of venom in his voice. "Just because you were born into privilege, you think you're someone important? Don't make me laugh. You, Guiche, are nothing. Just a little bug that just so happened to crawl out from gold-crusted crap pile. If you want to be a noble, act like you have the slightest bit of dignity instead of chasing after skirts like a wild beast in mating season!"

The veins on Guiche's forehead throbbed as he took an aggressive step towards Tobias. "If you were on my family estate, I could have you hanged," he threatened.

"Run back to your precious family then," Tobias taunted. "I'm sure your mother won't mind babying you for another couple of years. Who knows? Maybe next time you step foot outside your mansion you'll pass as a halfway-decent human being."

Guiche took another step forward. Every muscle in his face was taunt with barely restrained rage. He and Tobias could both clearly hear the crowd was on Tobias's favor, despite the smaller boy repeatedly going too far in his insults.

"Vestri court. Duel me. Now," Guiche growled.

"What was that?" Tobias asked, straight-faced. "I couldn't hear you over all the growling and barking, mutt."

"That's enough!" Guiche declared, drawing a rose from his robes. Tobias couldn't even guess how Guiche had managed to keep it there without crushing it. "I had hoped to not sully my fellow student's meals with violence, but it appears you are in desperate need of discipline!"

"Are you seriously going to hit me with a flower?" Tobias asked, genuinely confused. "It doesn't even have thorns." And if it had, Guiche would be the one on the receiving end. The shiny-haired noble was squeezing the flower so tightly Tobias could see white in his knuckles.

"As if I would resort to such barbarian tactics," Guiche scoffed. "Valkyrie, teach this miscreant a lesson in manners!"

Tobias watched as a single flower fell off the rose and drifted to the ground. His eyes widened and he instinctively jumped back when a white circle expanded from the petal once it hit the ground. A figure rose from the ground, clad in feminine grey armor and wearing a white skirt. No, Tobias amended as the light died and he was able to get a clearly picture of it, the figure was a set of armor, shaped into a recognizably feminine form, and wielding a spear. The summoning had caught Tobias by surprise, but something about it quickly caught his eyes.

"You really are obsessed with girls, aren't you?" Tobias deadpanned. While the statue had boob armor and narrow hips, its face was as expressive as Tobias's. That is to say, aside from its catlike eyes and barely discernible nose, the so-called-Valkyrie's face was featureless. Its helmet was more detailed, decorated with puffy wings on either side and falling to cover the golem's neck on multiple sides.

"You really don't know when to give up, do you?" Guiche asked through gritted teeth.

"I know exactly when to give up," Tobias replied. "I just don't see the point in giving up to someone as pathetic as you."

"Let's see if you can say that after facing the power of a mage!" Guiche declared. "Valkyrie, crush him!"

Tobias, despite having never faced a golem before, was only half surprised when the earthen construct suddenly started sprinting toward him at a much faster pace than an animated set of armor had any right to move. He didn't waste a second before pivoting on his heels and dashing straight into the crowd. Students ran in terror as the Valkyrie gave chase. Tobias was taking a gamble that Guiche wouldn't have the golem cleave through his classmates in an attempt to reach him, and it payed off. Even without Guiche giving a verbal command, the Valkyrie moved more cautiously through the sea of tables, chairs, mages, and familiars.

"Stand and fight like a man!" Guiche shouted.

"You first!" Tobias shouted back. Mid-combat mockery wasn't his thing—that job belonged to his old teammate, Marco—but Tobias's goal wasn't to fight, just to annoy Guiche long enough to drive any other thoughts out of his mind. Given how the golem was following Guiche's wishes without a need for complicated demands, it rather had an understanding of Guiche's intentions, or was being manually manipulated. In either case, as long as he used the students as human shields, he would be fine.

Tobias had an epiphany.

His strategy was callous and cowardly.

He didn't really care.

"A mage is supposed to use magic. I refuse to sully my hands on a commoner like you," Guiche declared. "But peasants like you should stand and fight with your primitive tools!"

The human-turned-hawk-turned-human wondered if Guiche noticed the hypocrisy in his statement. Given that he was still red-faced furious, that was probably a "no".

"Make me!" Tobias taunted, leaping over a table to avoid a grab from the Valkyrie. Unfortunately, his lack of training in his human form finally caught up to him. Instead of clearing the table in his jump, his foot snagged the table's end. Tobias tumbled, unable to catch himself as he landed hard on his shoulder and crashed onto his back.

The boy groaned as he struggled to get up. He stood to his feet with surprising ease, but when he tried to run, he realized that he was no longer on the ground. "What the hell is going on?" he shouted, realizing that he was floating several feet above the ground. Without any purchase, he couldn't go anywhere.

A laugh from Guiche caused Tobias to turn his head in the noble's direction. "Struggle, peasant. Or you can beg for my forgiveness, if you wish."

Tobias narrowed his eyes, noticing that Guiche's rose was pointed straight at him. "Couldn't beat me with just your toy?" Tobias asked snarkily. "Had to rely on a cheap trick. Hypocritical, isn't it? What kind of honor do you have?"

"A mage's weapon is obviously their wand," said Guiche, his arrogance back in full force. "While I could've held back some more, you were causing too much of a disturbance."

"You were the one making the big fuss. How much property damage was that?"

"Silence!" Guiche ordered.

Tobias rolled his eyes, or at least attempted to. His pupils ended up making a zigzagging motion as he struggled to keep himself oriented. "Stop barking mutt. You're only making a bigger fool of yourself."

Throughout the fight, Guiche's face had been constantly shifting between arrogance and anger. Now, he glared at Tobias in cold fury. If Tobias hadn't known what a coward Guiche really was, he would have taken the taller boy seriously. Instead, Tobias just resigned himself to whatever fate he was stuck with. Those were the eyes of someone who was set on a goal, and as it stood, Tobias was helpless unless he wanted to reveal his morphing to the entire school.

"I was going to offer you a final chance to redeem yourself," Guiche said with an exaggerated resigned sigh. "But now I see that you desperately need to be put in your place."

"Oh no," Tobias delivered in such a dry voice that no one could miss his sarcasm. "I am so scared. Whatever should I do?"

That was when the Valkyrie struck.

Tobias let out a pained gasp the butt of a metal spear jammed into his side. He instinctively curled into a ball to protect his most vital organs. And just in time too. A second jab smashed into the side of his ribs, with a third quickly following into his thigh.

"Do you know realize your predicament?" Guiche asked. The arrogant sneer on his face was back in full force. His eyes danced with amusement as he watched his Valkyrie beat down the defenseless Tobias. "You should apologize quickly; I'd hate to return you to the Zero in too rough of a condition."

Tobias drew a ragged breath as a chuckle escaped his lips. "Your statue may look like a girl," he wheezed. "But it can't even hit as hard as one. Pathetic, aren't you?"

The Valkyrie swung its spear into Tobias's side once again, this time using the tip. The trapped boy grunted as the golem swung again and again. Sometimes the spearhead drew blood, but mostly it was a beating of the spear butt across his entire body.

Tobias's shoulders shook heavily between the blows. The surrounding students, having ceased their fleeing when Tobias was caught, were at first amused by the punishment. However, they began feeling very disconcerted when they heard human familiar chuckle. As the beating went on, the sound grew to hysterical laughter. There was audible pain in that laughter, but it didn't show on Tobias's face. His mouth was captured in an expression too twisted to be called a smile. And his eyes…

His eyes were what that made them the most terrified of all.

Tobias's golden-brown eyes were open wide. With amusement, pain, or rage, none could tell. Perhaps all. Perhaps none. The only thing every student could agree on was that the expression on his face made them all want to run into their rooms, hide under the covers, and cuddle their pillows for the nearest foreseeable future. Even Guiche, who was still commanding his golem to dole out the "punishment", was shivering in subconscious terror as the haunting laughter continued.

Tobias couldn't help himself. He didn't know when he started laughing, but he couldn't stop. To think, he had started out being treated like a neglected pet by his guardians and being bullied in school. Then he got alien powers and became a child soldier in a covert war. And now, after renouncing humanity and deciding to live out his life in the wilds, he was back in a school, stuck as someone's pet, and being beaten black and blue by a common schoolyard bully. Despite the pain, Tobias couldn't resist the hilarity of the situation. Once again, his life was nothing more than a cosmic joke. Unrestrained laughter bubbled from is lips like an endless fountain of suffering mirth.

"STOP!"

The Valkyrie stopped in midswing upon Guiche hearing the voice. A red-faced and panting Louise burst through the circle of students, and equally exhausted raven-haired maid right at her heels. Louise looked first at the bloodied Tobias, who looked in her direction with a face frozen in maddened amusement, dry laughter still choking from his mouth. She then whirled to Guiche, who looked like a dere frozen in headlights.

Despite Louise's apparent exhaustion, her tone was wrapped in fury as she growled at Guiche, "What do you think you're doing to my familiar?"

Guiche, already trembling, was now pale in the face. Finally, he realized that he had been beating Louise's familiar, who was still softly cackling like a madman, in the middle of a public area. Still, he tried to put on a brave face. "I was merely giving him a proper reminder of his place," he said smoothly. "You should do better to teach your familiar not to defy the public order."

But Lousie wasn't having any of it. "Release my familiar now, Guiche," Louise demanded.

"But he—"

In one swift motion, Louise drew her wand and pointed it at Guiche. "Now!" she ordered.

Guiche's face went as white as a sheet as his façade crumbled away. The circle of students grew wider; none willing to risk getting caught up in one of Louise's infamous explosions. Slowly, Guiche lowered his wand, gently depositing Tobias on the ground.

The boy was not in good shape. His dirty blond hair now had wild streaks of red running through it. His clothes were scuffed, ripped, and stained with patches of crimson. Angry purple welts were already visible in the places his clothes no longer covered. Despite this, Tobias still made sounds of mirth. His laughter had died, but he still chuckled as he straightened himself. There was a limp in one of his legs, but it didn't deter Tobias as he took as shaky step towards Guiche. Louise and the maid moved to steady him, but he raised a hand to ward them off.

Every step Tobias took was unsteady, tentative. It looked as though he would fall any second. The audience waited with bated breath as Tobias shambled toward Guiche. Even Guiche could not bring himself to move as he watched the smaller boy approach him.

Stopping in front of the blond noble boy, Tobias showed is bloodstained teeth in a way that could not ever be described as a smile. "A bully with a fancy bloodline is still a bully," Tobias said with surprising neutrality. "Congratulations, you're the scummiest person I've met since I've gotten here, though you wouldn't break the top ten nastiest people I've met. In fact, I can't even put you in the top ten worst bullies I've met, and that's saying something. You're both the worst and underwhelming at the same time."

_THUD_

Next thing Guiche knew, he found himself on the ground with a harsh sting in his jaw. Tobias, standing over him, lowered his fist. "Don't act like a tough man when you're still a child," Tobias advised in the same flat, disinterested tone. "Otherwise, you'll just continue to make a fool out of yourself."

Tobias hobbled over to Louise, unbothered by the eerie silence surrounding him. He spat out a clot of blood to the side before casually asking, "Were you looking for me?"

"I—you—what did—?"

Seeing Louise on the verge of hyperventilating, Tobias put a—hopefully—reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Let's head upstairs, it's better talk away from the gossips."

"You're injured!" Louise exploded. "You need to lie down. Someone, run and get a water mage!" Several students did so, nearly tripping over each other as they went.

"I'll be fine," Tobias assured her. "I've had worse."

"That shouldn't be something you're proud of!" Louise snapped. Despite the anger in her words, Tobias could see the obvious concern in her face. "Lie down and tell me where you're hurting."

Tobias sighed. "Louise, my injuries aren't a big deal," he said patiently as he struggled to maintain his balance. "A good night's rest and I'll be fine." After a quick morph and demorph, he neglected to add.

"You'll need a bit more than that," said a new, older voice. Tobias and Louise looked up to see Professor Colbert floating above their heads. "Try not to move anything, I'll fly us to the Water Tower."

Tobias stared up at the man. Colbert had no wings, thruster, or any other forms of propulsion that Tobias could identify. With the softness of a gentle breeze, he and Louise were lifted up into the air and soared to an outer tower with a blue roof.

Tobias turned to Louise. "Mages can make golems from rose petals, levitate people, and fly?" he asked Louise. "How does that even work?"

"You're asking this _now_?" Louise asked incredulously.

"It's something to take my mind off the pain," Tobias hinted.

Louise grimaced, but complied. Her words were rushed due to the stress of the situation, but her expertise in the subject showed in her explanation. "Golem creation is Earth Magic. Generally, at least line class earth magic. However, Guiche is talented enough to use them even though he's only a dot class mage. Levitation is such a basic wind magic that it barely even counts as dot class magic, while flight is line class. Carrying people while flying is bordering triangle class wind magic though…" she added thoughtfully as she considered their current situation. "And Professor Colbert is a fire mage."

"Huh," said Tobias articulately. "I get the gist of it, I think. That means you're pretty powerful, huh, old man?"

"I am a square class mage, after all," Professor Colbert replied. While he didn't appreciate being called old—he was still in his forties for Brimir's sake—he felt obliged to give Louise's familiar some liberties. After all, most people wouldn't be conscious, let alone coherent, after taking such a beating. For a child not even old enough to grow facial hair to still be able to make quips spoke strongly of his hardiness.

When Colbert dropped the two off at the front of a blue-capped tower, two mages—who Tobias assumed to be some kind of medics—were standing outside to meet them.

"The boy is conscious, but most probably has serious injuries. Treat him gently and swiftly," Colbert ordered them. As the mages entered with Tobias and Louise in tow—the boy being kept in a levitation spell—Colbert let out a sadden sigh. He looked at the closing doors of the tower with pity before flying back to the headmaster's office.

* * *

Colbert landed in the Headmaster's office with a pained expression on his face. "The boy was surprisingly conscious," he reported. "Still, his injuries are probably severe. Internal damage and bone fractures at the very least."

"That is concerning," said Old Osmond, the Academy's headmaster, rubbing his long white beard. "It would be a problem if Valliere's familiar died due to a petty argument gone out of hand. This is exactly why we banned dueling in the first place!"

"Which is exactly why we should have stopped the fight before it got out of hand," Colbert insisted. "Once Gramont started attacking with his golem we should have stepped in."

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Osmond asked with a raised eyebrow. "Those runes on his hand? Your theory on how he could be Gandalfr?"

Colbert hesitated with a pang of guilt. After noticing the runes on the boy's hands, he had done some research and found out that the runes were a perfect match for Gandalfr, a familiar of the Founder, Brimir. He had brought his findings to the Headmaster so they could find a way to approach the boy. However, he had not expected this.

"Gandalfr or not, we should not have let a child suffer like that on our watch!" Colbert insisted.

"Colbert," said Osmond seriously. "I too, do not wish for harm to come to those in the Academy. Noble, or commoner. But you know as well as I that this was our best opportunity to see proof that Valliere's familiar is, in fact, the Gandalfr. The Left Hand of God. The Absolute Defender. The Master of all Weapons!"

"Please, lower your volume, Headmaster," Colbert urged. He raised his wand, casting a soundproofing spell on the room. "We cannot let this information spread freely."

From the other side of a wall, a person clucked their tongue and frowned as they lost the ability to eavesdrop on the two.

"At this point, it's only a theory," Osmond said wearily. "Backed by books and records, but we have no evidence. If there was ever a moment to use such a legendary power, it would be then. But that boy, he didn't even try to fight back. It was as if he was—"

"Broken," Colbert concluded with a nod. "Whatever happened before Louise summoned him, it broke his mind, or at least his spirit. I've seen people like him before, but they were normally war veterans who had seen too much in too little time. I cannot fathom what a child like him has seen to break him at such a young age."

"Neither can I," Osmond replied gravely. "And to be perfectly honest, it troubles me." Osmond leaned forward in his chair. "Tell me, Colbert, do you believe Valliere's familiar to be a threat to her person?"

"No," Colbert responded after only a moment's hesitation. "While I have no proof, the actions he took during his summoning indicate that he has accepted Miss Valliere as his master. Even on this occasion, despite assaulting Gramont, he lied about the extent of his injuries to reassure Miss Valliere of his condition. A foolish thing to do, given the circumstances, but I am convinced that it was an action of loyalty."

"But do we know why he is loyal?" Osmond asked, stroking his beard. "Is there anything he's searching for or is getting out of the arrangement?"

"I am… uncertain," Colbert admitted. "I have had very little interaction with him. He strikes me as someone who is blunt, crude at times, but generally passive unless angered. I will admit, however, that his anger worries me. His rage is tempered, like someone who has become well acquainted with death, and has delivered it as well." Colbert didn't want to believe that someone so young could be a killer, but those eyes, they haunted him. Even in his military life, Colbert had seen very few sights as bone chilling as the expression in that boy's eyes.

"I fear leaving the familiar around Miss Valliere could prove detrimental for her health," said Osmond with a defeated sigh. "But it cannot be helped. He is her familiar, and if he truly is the Gandalfr, we shall need all the help we can get."

"Are you suggesting we send a clearly mentally unstable child off to war?" Colbert asked in incredulousness.

"No, even in our most desperate times, I would not send a child when I could do greater work myself," said Osmond. "But given Miss Valliere's family, and her own personal connection to the princess, there may be no choice in the matter." He looked at Colbert gravely. "We need to discover where this boy's agenda lies and whether or not he's the Gandalfr. If he's a threat to Miss Valiere's safety and is not the Gandalfr, I do not think I need to tell you what we must be do."

Colbert gave a slow, shaky, but deliberate nod. "We will do what we must, but unless he proves to be a threat to Miss Valliere or the other students, I will not lay a hand against the boy," he declared. There was too much blood on his hands already. Unless there was no other possible outcome, he would not add to that amount.

"As long as you are ready to deal with the worst possible outcome, that is all I ask."

* * *

While the school's medical rooms were lacking the equipment and sanitation standards Tobias was familiar with, they made up for it with superior healing professionals. The ability to flick a wand, say a few simple words, and restore injuries was almost mindboggling. It was only the sheer insanity that made up Tobias's childhood that allowed him to process what he witnessed.

"You should make sure to stay off your feet as much as possible for the next few days," the doctor ordered. Tobias wasn't sure if he was called a doctor, but since he hadn't introduced himself—instead immediately moving to diagnostics when Tobias was brought in—Tobias would call him a doctor until another title was given.

"Thank you, sir," Louise said with a respectful dip of her head. "I will make sure he takes it easy for the time being."

"Thanks for the help, doc," said Tobias as he slid off the examination bed and stood to his feet. Louise immediately moved to support the side with his bad leg.

The man looked confused by Tobias's form of address, but given the boy's condition and obviously non-native appearance, assumed it was a foreign title of respect. "Do return if his condition worsens," he advised Louise as she helped Tobias hobbled out the door. Louise gave some sort of reply, but Tobias's mind was too distracted to catch it.

The walk back to Louise's room was a slow and painful one. The gazes of students bore into them from all sides. While normally Louise was used to facing eyes filled with scorn, she was unused to seeing confusion and apprehension. No one was laughing or mocking her. If anything, they looked unnerved by her presence. Or at least, the presence of the human familiar she was currently supporting.

"Ignore them," Tobias said in a low voice. "They don't matter."

"Don't waste your breath," Louise said sharply, noticing that his breathing was ragged, and was even worse when he tried to talk. Despite her harsh words, she appreciated his advice. The other students were of no consequence to her. Right now, she had to get her familiar back to her room and acknowledging the observations of her peers was a waste of time.

Once they had—painfully—managed the climb of stairs to Louise's room, Louise released Tobias's arm so she could close the door behind them.

Tobias immediately picked up on Louise's mood. "You're mad at me, aren't you?" he asked rhetorically.

"What do you think?" Louise asked in a dangerously neutral tone.

"I think you're extremely angry," Tobias replied honestly.

Louise raised a hand as if to slap him, but remembering that he already had been beaten black and blue, clenched her hand into a fist and put it at her side. "Don't ever do that again!" she ordered.

"Insult your classmates?" Tobias asked. "He had it coming, but if you want—"

"I don't care about that!" Tobias could see Louise's eyes begin to water. She was angry, there was something more. Her eyes were pained and concerned. Her voice was as sharp as always, but underneath it was something Tobias was struggling to identify. "You got hurt. You almost died! You can't die on me, understand?"

Tobias was surprised by the raw emotion wracking Louise's voice. Her voice cracked, and she was shaking from head to toe. For a moment, he couldn't' understand. After all, she was fine, and he was a little battered, but none the worse for the wear. Then he remembered, Louise was a fairly normal teenaged girl. Magical world or not, she probably wasn't used to seeing people hurt. Given that she was a noble, she may not have been used to the sight of a bloodied person either.

If Tobias hadn't survived a war, he knew he would have passed out from the pain long before Professor Colbert arrived. His body had been dealt several bone fractures, four broken ribs, more bruises than he could count, and enough blood loss to make even him feel lightheaded. It was no wonder Louise was so concerned about his condition, but the anxiety she was expressing was stronger than he expected. Didn't she see him as a pet? Why was she acting so attached to him? They had only just been acquainted, after all. Two days wasn't nearly enough time to get attached to someone, was it?

It was times like these that made Tobias wish he had a normal childhood. He had no experience in dealing with this. Not sure what else he could say, he offered, "I will do my best not to die."

"That's not good enough," Louise said stubbornly. "Swear to me that you won't die. That you won't get yourself killed doing something stupid like that!"

Tobias sighed. Asking for him to be immortal was a little farfetched, but avoiding stupid deaths would be pretty easy. All he had to do was not get involved in another shadow war against alien parasites, or something equally as ridiculous. "I swear I won't get myself killed by doing something stupid," he vowed solemnly.

That seemed to calm Louise down, if just slightly. "Good," said Louise with obvious relief in her voice. "I'll hold you to it. It would be embarrassing if I lost my familiar before I even graduate the academy."

Tobias refrained from rolling his eyes as Louise once again tried to sound authoritative. After her prior outburst, however, it was obvious that she was doing it to assure herself that everything was normal.

If that was the case, two could play at that game. "If you're done, I'm going to take a nap," Tobias said as he moved towards the straw bed.

Louise grabbed his arm immediately. "And where do you think you're going?" she asked.

Thinking that she had assumed he was headed towards the door—which was in roughly the same direction—he pointed at the pile of hay that made his bed. "To sleep."

Louise bit the bottom of her lip, looking pensive. "The straw could scratch your wounds," she said reflectively. "And the stone floor would be bad for your body."

"I heal fast," Tobias assured her. "I'll be fine." Seriously, if she would stop nagging him he could be healed in about three minutes. Morph. Demorph. Simple. Done.

"No! As your master, I am in charge of your health. I cannot have you risk getting worse." Louise looked thoughtful as she glanced around the room. "I suppose I will allow you to share the bed with me."

Tobias sighed. The bed might have been soft, but he hadn't slept in a soft bed in years. He was used to being perched in a try or resting in the nook of thick branches. Even in his human body, he was used to being on wood or hay, not a mattress. "I don't need—" he tried to say.

"That's an order!" Louise said sharply. "You should be grateful; it is not often that a commoner gets to sleep on such luxury."

"But I—" Louise glared at him, and this time Tobias was the one to look away. Not because Louise was intimidating. Far from it. In fact, the way she puffed up her cheeks when she was annoyed was pretty cute. The reason Tobias didn't push was because of the look in her eyes. Her body language and voice demanded obedience, which he could ignore, but her eyes pleaded for it.

Tobias could only sigh. "As my master wishes, so it shall be," he said reluctantly. His mood only dropped further when Louise pulled out a chair and set it next to the bed. She sat down on the seat, as if intent to watch him sleep.

Suppressing a groan, Tobias gingerly crawled under the covers, only hoping that Louise would tire of watching him long enough for him to quickly morph out of his injuries. Magical healing or not, being beaten half to death hurt!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who knew being coddled could add to one's pain?
> 
> I've gotten my grove back for this story. Uploads still won't be regular, but hopefully I'll get at least 1 chapter every other month.
> 
> Remember, comments are food for a writer's soul!


	4. Mott is Met

Normally, Tobias wouldn’t mind being doted on. He had missed a lot of the luxuries of childhood, and a second chance to be pampered wasn’t something he would turn down easily.

However, when all he wanted was to get away for five minutes to heal himself, the watching eye of someone who deeply cared for his wellbeing was more harm than help.

Tobias, to his misfortune, had fallen asleep before Louise the night before. And when he had awoken, Louise was already awake and dressed for the day, sitting at his bedside once again. In fact, for all he knew, she might have slept in the chair in her clothes, or not slept at all.

When the time for breakfast rolled around, Tobias thought that he would have a chance to take some time to himself. However, to his surprise, a familiar maid delivered breakfast to him and Louise. When Louise had to go to class, she instructed the maid to keep an eye on Tobias and monitor the progress of his health. With a watching eye over him and a lack of mobility, this left Tobias with little options in regard to his morphing. Even when he went to the bathroom, he couldn’t take the risk that the maid would hear the cracking and squelching of bones and muscles rearranging. Plus, if he fell over due to biological rearrangement in mid-morph, he was worried that the door would be busted open in an attempt to “assist” him.

“I never got to properly thank you,” the maid said demurely as she stood to the side of the bed and watched the boy eat. “You saved me back there.”

“…It was nothing,” Tobias said awkwardly. Being carefully watched while he ate was a no-no as a hawk, and the discomfort lingered in him even as a human. The topic of the conversation—if it could be called that—was also not helping matters.

“If it hadn’t been for me, you wouldn’t have been bedridden,” the maid said in a trembling voice. “I can never repay you for that.”

Tobias sighed quietly. He really wished that he could tell her to leave, but with Louise’s orders and the maid’s guilty conscience, he doubted it would be that easy. “I didn’t do anything for payment,” he said. “Just do whatever you normally do and try to stay away from the pompous peacock until he forgets the incident, okay?” While he didn’t look up from his meal, Tobias caught the sound of a stifled giggle when he referred to Guiche by the undignified nickname.

The maid nodded and bowed low. “I will take your advice, Mister Familiar.”

“Tobias.”

The maid looked up. “I beg your pardon?” she asked.

“My name’s Tobias, not Mister Familiar,” Tobias said, raising his eyes to meet hers. “And please stand up, you don’t have to bow to me.”

“But I can’t be disrespectful to you, Mister Tobias!”

Tobias groaned loudly, not even bothering to hide it. It was annoying that most people treated him like a kid—which, given his underdeveloped thirteen-year-old body, was understandable—but this girl was treating him like some kind of savior. At this point, Tobias wasn’t sure which was worse.

“ _Tobias_ ,” he stressed as emphatically as he could. “I am not a mister; I’m not that old.” Technically, he was twenty, going on twenty-one, so the title was accurate, but the girl didn’t need to know that. “Yeesh, now I know how Jake felt when Ax insisted on calling him Prince,” Tobias muttered under his breath.

“You know a _prince_?”

At this point, Tobias was just hoping an alien spaceship would smash through the wall and save him from the conversation. In the past three and a half years before he was summoned, he had spoken to less than a dozen people, half of which he had known for years. He was up a creek without a paddle when it came to navigating conversations, let alone dealing with friendly and overly polite teenaged girls.

“Of sorts,” Tobias replied vaguely. “And I don’t know how it works here, but where I come from, normally people exchange names when they are introduced.”

“My apologies, Mi—Tobias,” the maid corrected herself. “My name is Siesta, and I will be serving you during your time of recovery.”

Tobias sighed. “Don’t get too comfortable,” he warned. “I heal pretty fast.”

“Yes, I believe I heard you yesterday saying you’d be fine after a good night’s rest.” It was only because Tobias’s own tone was usually deadpan that he managed to catch the sarcastic tinge in Siesta’s voice.

Tobias sighed again and pushed away the tray of food he had been eating. Honestly, the meal proportions that nobles took were just wasteful. “I’ll be fine when I can get some good rest,” he insisted.

Judging by the amused look on the maid’s face, she didn’t believe him.

Siesta picked up the tray and started to walk away. Tobias thought he would finally get a moment to himself, but instead the maid set the tray on the table before moving to stand by his side. Tobias waited several moments to see if she would do anything else, but she continued to stand there, watching him with a concerned but somehow tranquil expression on her face. It was starting to make him strangely uncomfortable.

“You aren’t going to return that to the kitchen?” Tobias finally asked.

Siesta shook her head. “I have been ordered to remain at your side until Miss Valliere returns from her lessons,” she explained.

“When did she say that?”

“I believe you were still sleeping. You looked like you were having a nightmare.”

“Huh.” At least he hadn’t been morphing in his sleep. He hadn’t done it before, but he was going through a lot of firsts right now. Instinctual sleep morphing wouldn’t be the craziest thing to happen in the past two days.

“Don’t you get tired of standing?” Tobias asked out of curiosity.

Siesta gave him a soft smile. “Maids are trained to remain standing at attention for as long as needed,” she assured him.

“Just because you can doesn’t mean you should,” Tobias said with a grunt. “Grab a chair and sit down.”

“Is that an order?”

“If it’ll convince you to get off your feet, then yes.”

* * *

After several painfully slow days, Tobias was finally was allowed to wander around on his own. He had managed to subtly accelerate his recovery by partially morphing while under the sheets of the bed. The healing process was much slower than Tobias would have liked, but it took the worst of the pain away and helped him maintain his image of being a normal human.

In hindsight, attempting to morph away his injuries immediately had been a bad idea that would have blown his cover immediately. Tobias assumed the pain had robbed him of some of his common sense. Or he was starting to get too relaxed in his new environment. Both were viable and not mutually exclusive reasons.

The time of rest had given Tobias plenty of time to get used to the constant presence of Louise and Siesta. Louise was mostly focused on her studies, but occasionally used him to vent her frustrations about the day. From those one-sided conversations, he learned that Louise had been bullied during her entire time at the academy. The little she said about her home life made him believe that her family wasn’t much better. He also learned more about how society was structured. Nobles were mages, and magic was considered a gift from their “founder god”, so they felt justified ruling over normal people. Sometimes, Louise admitted, the nobles ruled unfairly, but the young mage insisted that system was optimal despite the occasional flaws.

Siesta gave Tobias perspective into peasant life. While commoners were disgruntled by the corrupt nobility, rule by mage nobles was the accepted way of life. It wasn’t as if the common folk could overturn the hierarchy anyway, as a single line class mage could effortlessly defeat twenty trained commoner soldiers—or so it was said; Tobias vehemently disagreed based on his own combat experiences.

Not only would a peasant’s revolt be suicidal, but it was also unlikely to make things better in the long run. In Albion—a country that was said to drift across the sky—there already was a terrible war to overthrow the ruling monarchy. From the limited information going around, the “insurgents” were winning, but it was a bloody fight that was harming innocent people across the country. Even if the war was won, it would leave the country with precious few mages for military and domestic utility.

While the news was delivered somberly, Tobias found morbid relief from it. Wars and senseless violence were still around as usual. It almost made him feel like he was on Earth again.

Tobias sighed, kicking his legs idly off the raised ledge by the cafeteria. Classes were over. Louise was doing homework. He finally had time to himself. However, he had already flown around the academy, surveyed the nearby roads, and scouted a few potential morphing spots. For the first time in what felt like years, Tobias was bored. And to make matters worse, he couldn’t idly fly around without running the risk of losing track of time. For the sake of not tempting fate, he remained grounded in his human body.

In the corner of his eyes, Tobias spotted the familiar raven-colored hair of Siesta. Surprisingly, in this world where natural hair could be every conceivable color of the rainbow, Siesta was one of the few people he had found with solid black locks, making her very easy to spot at any distance. The young lady was surprisingly not clad in her usual work attire. Instead, she was dressed in a pale yellow and tan dress on top of a white blouse with puffy sleeves. In her hands was a small brown suitcase. She turned her head towards the Academy’s central tower with a look of longing.

Tobias casually waved a hand, catching her eye. Siesta briefly waved back with a smile that did not reach her eyes before walking away. Tobias could spy a carriage near the entrance, an unfamiliar symbol etched on its doors. Siesta entered the carriage, but not before turning to turning to Tobias and giving him one last smile.

Tobias sat as still as stone as he watched her leave. To the untrained eye, it looked like she was giving him a simple goodbye. But Tobias knew that resigned expression anywhere. It wasn’t “goodbye”.

It was “ _goodbye_ ”.

As the carriage pulled away, Tobias let a hiss escape his teeth. His eyes shifted, taking in the area and identifying the closest target who could answer his questions. Spotting a brunette maid preparing tables for whatever nobles called their afternoon snack, he called out, “You there! Do you know where is Seista going?”

The young woman didn’t look startled by his abrupt demand, probably due to working while surrounded by pampered nobles. However, she did pause a moment when she noticed he wasn’t wearing a mage’s robes. Tobias’s current outfit was something Siesta picked out: a thick cotton shirt that was baggy at the arms but otherwise fit nicely, and a pair of baggy brown trousers. She had also provided him with boots, but Tobias preferred to keep his feet bare when he wasn’t accompanying Louise to classes. The ensemble was a commoners’ attire, but Tobias held himself in a way that made it clear he was not a servant.

Recovering, the maid replied, “Siesta’s contract was bought by Count Mott, Mr. Familiar. She’ll be working at his estate now.”

Count Mott was not a name Tobias was familiar with. He wasn’t even sure what a count was. All he knew was it was some sort of noble title, which that meant whoever the guy was, he had some level of authority. Still, something did not seem right. Tobias’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean by him buying her contract?”

“He has purchased her current contract of employment from the Academy and transferred it to himself.”

“So quickly?” Tobias pressed. He had seen Siesta only the day before, and he was certain that she had looked completely normal. The expression in her eyes would be hard to conceal from some as perceptive as himself.

“The count spent the greater part of the morning here scouting out a new hire,” the maid explained. “The contract was finalized by lunchtime, but she was given a few hours to pack her things.”

“But transferring a contract shouldn’t be that simple,” Tobias argued. “It sounds more like he was buying a pet, not hiring a person!”

“The nobility has the right to our service,” the maid said forlornly.

That sounded ominous. Tobias pushed himself off the ledge, his feet landing on the courtyard grass. “Is she in danger?” he asked curtly.

The maid hesitated. “She will be treated well as long as she remains in Count Mott’s service,” she said carefully.

Tobias strode forward with frosty expression on his face. “Speak plainly,” he ordered. “Save the tact for someone who cares.”

Once more, the maid hesitated, but with Tobias’s frigid glare piercing into her, she quickly yielded. “The Count is known to take many maids, use them as he wishes, and cast them out when he tires of them,” she explained in a bitter tone. “He is not especially cruel, but he is not kind either. A lecher who values himself over the people he is supposed to protect.”

Upon hearing this, Tobias closed his eyes. After several seconds, he opened them. His glare had softened, but face was resolute. “I apologize for scaring you earlier,” he said in calm, oddly detached voice. “You have been very helpful.”

“Thank you, Mister Familiar—”

“Tobias,” the boy cut her off immediately. “No Mister. No Sir. I don’t even know how you knew I was a familiar, but that is not my name either. Got it?”

To his surprise, the brunette maid smiled at his curt words. “Siesta spoke highly of you, Tobias,” she replied. “She also informed the staff of your preferences, but old habits are hard to break, I’m afraid. My name is Anne, and I’ve worked closely with Siesta.” She looked at him curiously. “Do you plan to request for her return?”

“Something like that. Do you know how to get to this count’s place?”

Anne pointed to the front gate. “Travel on the northeast road. His territory borders the academy, but it will take at least two hours by horseback to reach his manor.”

“And the carriage will travel slower than horseback, correct?”

“That is correct,” she confirmed. “But I would still advise haste. Count Mott likes to ‘break in’ the new maids once night falls, which won’t be long after Siesta arrives.”

“Got it.”

Anne stepped away as Tobias’s eyes gained a deadly glint. While she was relieved that Siesta stood a chance of being rescued, the boy’s face was truly unnerving. She was expecting him to ask his master to repurchase Siesta’s contract—since that would be the simplest solution—but the expression on Tobias’s face was borderline murderous.

* * *

Up in Louise’s room, the young mage was hard at work on her studies. The past few days she had been distracted by her familiar’s condition, which had resulted in her grades starting to slip. Thankfully, Tobias’s boasts about healing fast weren’t as empty as they first sounded. The healers at the Water Tower had predicted several weeks of recovery with regular visits to make sure everything was healing properly. To everyone’s surprise, her familiar had lost his limp within two days. In less than a week, the physicians concluded that he was fully healed, as if the injuries had never occurred in the first place. Such potent healing wasn’t beyond the effects of talented healers and powerful elixirs, but Tobias had recovered with only mundane treatment and a few days of rest.

Her familiar was a constant mystery to Louise. He always looked so serious, but he teased her frequently. And when he teased her, it wasn’t like the biting words of her classmates, aimed to take her down. Instead, he poked at her stoic shell and backed away when she became upset. It was… nice. She couldn’t explain it, but his attitude put her at ease. Except when he looked into her eyes with his usual pointed glare. His expression gave no clear emotion, but there was something unnerving about his eyes. The glare that pierced into her very soul almost reminded Louise of her mother’s disapproving stare.

Speaking of her mother, Louise had kept the details sparse when she had last written home. She had mentioned summoning a peculiar familiar, but had not elaborated further. She also had not informed her mother of Guiche’s actions against Tobias. Her mother was known for having a terrible temper, so Headmaster Osmond had advised Louise and Guiche to settle the affair at the academy, lest they extend their conflict to the Gramont and Valliere houses.

Louise had originally planned to have Guiche pay for Tobias’s costs for recovery, but with her familiar’s ridiculous healing rate, that was no long necessary. There was plenty of space to extort more finances from Guiche to fund the care of her familiar, but Louise wanted to spend her own money on Tobias. She didn’t want it to appear that she couldn’t take of her familiar’s basic necessities like food and clothing. So, she left Guiche on hold, declaring that she would make a reasonable request in time. At this point, she was considering asking Tobias for advice, as she was out of ideas, and he was the one who had been harmed in the first place.

The sound of the door suddenly swinging open startled Louise from her thoughts, causing the girl to jump from her seat. In the process, her knee banged against the table, knocking over her inkwell. A black puddle spread over her parchment and across the table. Her familiar walked inside quickly, his normally stern eyes tightened even further than usual.

“Louise?”

The girl in question was currently trying to wipe off an ink stain that was now dripping onto the front of her dress. “You better have a good reason to come barging in her and interrupt my work!” she said crossly. “Just look at my homework! Now I have to do it all over again. And my dress is ruined!”

Tobias didn’t consider ruined homework to be very important, but then again, even when he had been a student, he hadn’t put a lot of effort into his education. Clothes were equally dismissible. “Do you know about a man named Count Mott?” he asked, not bothering to address Louise’s concerns.

“Ugh, don’t even mention his name,” Louise said in blatant distaste. “That man is a disgrace to nobles everywhere. If it wasn’t for his family name, he wouldn’t have territory anywhere near the Capital or the Academy.”

“So he’s bad news,” Tobias concluded.

“Jules de Mott is lecherous cretin who makes Guiche look almost saintly,” Louise spat. “He’s decently competent as a triangle class water mage and governor, but that’s where his positive traits end. It’s no wonder that no noble family has been willing to offer their daughter’s hand in marriage to him. I hear he settles for hiring whores to fulfill his desires. Disgusting.”

“I see.”

Tobias’s normally flat toned was now heavily laced with something else. “Why do you ask?” Louise asked, suddenly suspicious.

Tobias shrugged. “I just heard about him from one of the maids,” he replied vaguely. “Apparently he visited the academy this morning to find a new hire.”

Louise made a sympathetic face. “I pity the poor girl who he hired,” she said sincerely.

“Would there be a way to undo the hiring?” Tobias asked.

“Not unless he decided he didn’t want her services anymore,” Louise said with a sigh. “And then the Headmaster would have to hire the maid again. The process is too complicated for anyone to take their time to do anything about it.”

“A pity,” said Tobias blandly. “Would it be wrong if a guy like him died in a ditch somewhere?”

Louise made an exasperated sigh. Her familiar was stubborn in his insistence in using morbid terminology. She’d have to correct that habit. “That man is a disgrace to nobility,” she finally said. “I don’t appreciate his existence, but that does not mean you should say things that could be interpreted poorly. Remember, your words and actions reflect on me as your master.”

“And saying or doing the wrong thing would get you in trouble, correct?”

“Exactly,” Louise said with a pleased nod. “So be careful when you’re out in public, understood?”

“I understand,” said Tobias. “Thank you for the advice.” He stepped out and closed the door, leaving as abruptly as he entered.

“Advice?” Louise echoed. She moved towards the door, but then remembered the stain still spreading on her clothes. “Stupid, Tobias,” Louise grumbled as she started to take of her ruined clothes. “Making a mess and running off. The nerve of him!”

* * *

Tobias flew to Count Mott’s territory. Horses were faster than carriages, but hawks were far faster than horses. Technically, he was taking a risk flying out in the open. He had seen owls at night and other raptors flying over the forest by day, but he had yet to see a red-tail hawk in particular. Despite the risk, Tobias felt it was worth the speed.

He reached Siesta’s carriage in roughly half an hour. The girl was the only occupant, with a driver and a single guard sitting outside on the front part of the carriage. The defense was skimpy for an escort, but Tobias figured that the distance between the Academy and the mansion was small enough to not fear thieves and robbers, especially with the spires of the capital poking out over the tree line.

Satisfied that Siesta was safe for now, Tobias pulled ahead and flew towards Count Mott’s manor as fast as he could. While the roads winded around the thickest parts of the trees, Tobias was able to skip twists and bends and fly in a direct line as long as he could see where the road led. Sure enough, he eventually came across the Count’s manor.

‘Who builds a small castle so close to a national academy, let alone literal freaking capital?’ Tobias mentally asked himself.

The manor, if it could be called that, was massive. The bottom half resembled the base of stone roman cathedral, while the top half was designed like a mansion from the 19th century. The design was odd and flatulent, which was complimented by the high stone walls that surrounded the property and the shapely trimmed trees and bushes. If Tobias didn’t know better, he would assume that the designer of the property had slapped together as many interpretations of “fancy” as possible and called it a design worthy of an egotistic noble.

Before scouting the manor properly, Tobias took a few minutes to change into a raven morph. While he had personal distaste for the creatures, they were more commonplace than red-tail hawks, which would make it easier for him to avoid being noticed.

Previously, Tobias had attempt to morph from red-tail hawk to another morph as an experiment, but found that he could not. Somehow, his base form had been reset to human. He had assumed as much when he had first noticed his morphing ability, but he had held hope that he might have gained the ability to morph freely. Tobias wasn’t sure how Louise had managed to do it—especially since she didn’t even know about his morphing abilities—but ultimately decided to take the cards he was dealt. After all, with all of the variables to consider, there was no way _he_ would figure out that mystery.

While flying overhead as a raven, Tobias took note of the number of guards and where they patrolled. They tended to stay in pairs, and the ones that patrolled the outer wall were accompanied by soot colored dogs with leathery wings. Tobias assumed that the wings were not just for show, so his movement options would be very limited. He took note of the positions of doors and windows that were less likely to be guarded.

Then, he found Count Mott.

Tobias had seen many things growing up that no child nor adult would want to see in their lifetime. And yet, here he was, witnessing a new first that disgusted him. The “maids”, if they could be called that, were dressed in outrageously skimpy outfits. Tobias had seen girls wear bikinis that covered more skin than those parodies of a uniform. But it wasn’t just the girls’ clothes that perturbed Tobias. It was the Count himself.

Tobias had mentally pictured the count to be a pudgy man who used women to compensate for his lack of masculinity. However, the Count was a pretty good-looking guy. Well-kept facial hair, a face that wouldn’t look out of place on a celebrity magazine, a fit body; the count had the whole package when it came to physical appearance.

While the Count’s physical features came as a surprise, his personality fit the bill. Tobias was disturbed seeing how Mott treated his maids. He would casually paw at one’s barely clothed chest with one hand and slap another maid’s lace covered posterior with his other. Worse yet were the girls’ responses, both verbal and physical. Every grope was usually accompanied by a moan or squeak from the girl being fondled, but there was no pleasure to be heard. Some of the girls maintained an impassive, dutiful expression, but others trembled at Mott’s touch and reddened whenever he wasn’t looking in their direction.

Tobias had seen enough, and he could hear the sounds of Siesta’s carriage pulling up. A quick glance at the sun told Tobias that he had at least an hour before sunset. He carefully considered his options. With the way the Count treated women like toys he could collect and throw away at will, it was unlikely that Tobias would be able to talk him out of having Siesta. And Louise didn’t want anything to be traced back to her, so he couldn’t afford failing at diplomacy.

Tobias was a person of many morphs, but not so many talents. Surveillance? Easy. Infiltration? Doable. Combat? Been there; done that. Negotiation? Rarely. Very rarely. Normally, he was the silent observer, not a speaker.

Plus, he wasn’t feeling all too chatty with pond scum.

Well, desperate times called for desperate measures.

Tobias watched as Siesta was directed into the house. A maid—this one dressed somewhat sensibly—guided the raven haired girl in through a side door. Tobias tracked their movements by the many windows in the manor’s halls. The layout let in a lot of light, but it also made it easy to track people inside. This manor was clearly not designed with practicality or safety in mind.

Tobias’s eyes followed Siesta as she was directed to a bedroom. Thankfully, the room also had a window to the outside and it was left partially open to let in the cool breeze. Tobias was able to swoop down and perch on the windowsill. He saw Siesta look despondently at a set of black and white clothes lying on the bed in front of her. Tobias didn’t need to guess what they were.

Siesta sighed and started to pull up her blouse over her head.

{Siesta.}

The girl finished pulling of her blouse before looking around. Thankfully, the second layer she wore underneath prevented any accidental flashes. “That’s strange,” the maid said out loud. “I could have sworn I heard Mister Tobias.”

{I already told you to call me Tobias,} Tobias grumbled.

The girl jumped with small shriek and looked around frantically. Seeing no one except a bird on her windowsill, she eventually said, “I must be stressed about the transfer, that’s it.”

{Stop being in denial,} Tobias snapped. {I am here. You’re not crazy. If you’ve finally calmed down, I need you to listen to me.} He was being harsh, and he knew that, but he needed to get the point across.

“Are you speaking through the bird, Tobias?” Siesta asked curiously.

Tobias immediately turned his head away, but the damage was done. He cursed himself for falling into his hawk-like habit of staring at everything he focused on. {Leave the bird alone,} he warned. {I’m speaking to you through your mind. I’m sure Louise already told you I could do this.}

“I thought it was a special master and familiar things,” Sista replied. “Wait, can you hear me through the bird? Can you feel through the bird?”

{Stop asking pointless questions and—hey!} He let out a vocal squawk and Siesta poked a finger into his breast. {Don’t touch the bird, I’m trying to talk here!}

“Did you make the bird your familiar? Are you a mage too?”

{Focus!} Tobias shouted. He felt ashamed when the girl recoiled, clutching her head. {Sorry, but I don’t have time to fool around. When are you supposed to see Count Mott?}

Siesta winced as she fought through the pounding of her head. “After dinner, around eight or so, I think?” she said hesitantly. “The maid who showed me in said that they would come and get me when he was ready.”

 _Not on my watch._ Tobias kept that thought inside his own head and projected, {Good, that gives us more time than I thought. Stay put, don’t say anything about me, and I’ll be back soon.}

“What are you going to do?” Siesta asked.

Tobias stared at her with beady eyes. {Just do what I say and don’t cause trouble,} he responded before taking flight.

Well, that wasn’t exactly how he expected the conversation to go. The girl was more perceptive than he thought. At least she didn’t suspect that he _was_ the bird. Now that would have been a problem.

While Tobias technically had almost two hours to come up with a new plan, he didn’t see a need to. What he was about to do was probably the most stupid, reckless, and dangerous thing he’d attempted since he ended up in this strange, magical world. However, he decided to stick with that approach. From the time Tobias had learned of Count Mott’s existence, there’d been an itch burning him from the inside out. It was time to act on it.

Still in his raven morph, Tobias flew down to the sill of one of the many windows in the mansion. This window in particular was the closest to the door to Count Mott’s… lounge room? Tobias hadn’t seen a bed when gazing in through the window, but there had been a couch large enough to double as one. Tobias shook his head. He could wonder about the odd choice of furniture later. Right now he had to think of a good way to get through or around the two guards stationed in front of the Count’s door. The design of the manor might have been terrible, but the guard system was rigid enough to make coming through the front entrance seem to be an unnecessary hassle.

Just as Tobias was about to leave to find another route, the younger of the two guards—looking in his early twenties—whispered a question to his companion, “Did you get a look at the new girl?”

The older one—looking at least thirty—gave a low, appreciative whistle. “Sure did. An exotic looking one, she is.”

“Any idea where she’s from?”

“Balduns if I know. He picked her up from the Academy, so she can’t be from too far out.”

The younger guard sighed. “Hopefully she’s not to the count’s liking.”

“Why’s that?”

A lecherous grin spread across the young man’s face. “Wouldn’t you like to have a go with her?”

“Pfft, nah,” the other snorted. “Give me a noble’s bastard daughter and then we’ll talk.”

The two smothered their laughter as a brunette maid turned to walk down the hallway. Tobias flew away as well. The guards had been unobservant enough to not notice his extended rest, but he didn’t want to push his luck.

{Of course, the man would hire people as depraved as himself,} Tobias grumbled to himself. {So far, this world seems somehow _worse_ than mine!}

With devil dogs guarding the ground level and too many people walking through the inside of the building, Tobias decided to morph at the top of the building and work his way down. Despite the existence of flight spells and winged mounts, there were precious few guards stationed at high points in the manor. Count Mott was rather extremely confident in his spread of ground level guards, or he was foolish enough to leave an obvious blind spot in the defenses of his personal estate. Given Louise’s opinion of the man, Tobias assumed it to be the latter.

From the roof of the building, Tobias surveyed the positions of all the guards. They were rotating positions, probably for the evening shift, which meant he would have to wait until they were done before he could make a move. That was, unless he wanted to face double the amount of guards.

Tobias remained on the roof, hunched in the shadow of the largest spire so his silhouette wouldn’t be illuminated by the sun that was starting to brush the edges of the treetops. Then, he began to morph.

This wasn’t a morph he used often. Not for a lack of convivence—it was strong, fast, and deadly—but because it belonged to a sapient creature. As an Animorph, morphing into other sapients was a big no-no. However, the person Tobias had acquired the morph from understood the position he and the other Animorphs were in, and Tobias had been given permission to use the form when he needed it. While he still rarely used it, as he didn’t want abuse the generosity, this was the perfect time.

The first change was his height. Tobias normally stood a little over five feet tall, which wasn’t bad for a malnourished thirteen-year-old body. Within seconds he was easily seven feet tall, but this was mostly due to his neck suddenly stretching out. His peachy-tan skin became covered in dark brownish-green scales. His head became snake-like, but ended in a beak. His foot shifted to form three fat toes, each ending in sharp, hooked talons. A tail stretched out from his spine, completing the reptilian look.

Then came the blades.

Blades of a distinct forest green hue jutted out from several part’s of Tobias’s body. One stuck out from the end of his tail, with another emerging slightly further down the tail. From his wrists, elbows, and knees a wicked spike protruded. On his head, two curved blades grew, curving towards Tobias’s similarly colored beak.

This was the form of Ket Halpak, one of the first Hork-Bajir the Animorphs had rescued, and the mother of Tobias’s goddaughter, Toby.

Hork-Bajir were terrifying creatures in appearance, but were actually docile and naïve. Despite looking like living weapons, they were herbivores who used their blades to latch onto and harvest bark from the towering trees of their planet. They were simple-minded, having the average intelligence of toddler, which made them all to be easy to be captured by the mind enslaving Yeerks.

Tobias shook his reptilian head. Thinking about his old enemies was a distraction. He had to remain focused on the one target he had.

The sun was setting in the direction of Tobias’s entry point, so he had to make sure to time his entrance perfectly. After taking one final glance to ensure no one else was looking in his direction, Tobias began scaling down the side of the manor. Most of the building was rock, but a Hork-Bajir’s climbing ability was not restricted to using their blades for purchase. His powerful foot muscles were able to hold him steady whenever his talons found a chink in the rock. His clawed hands gave him a similar advantage, allowing him to scale down the stone surface like a malformed spider.

Once Tobias had traveled far enough down, he let himself land on the window’s narrow wooden ledge. His talons sank into the wood as his shadow stretched into the room. The eyes of Mott’s maids widened in shock and fear.

Tobias jumped in with an unearthly screech. The shattering of the window with the setting sun on his back made his entrance all the more dramatic. The maids screamed in terror, tripping over each other as they bolted to the door. Said door was flung open by the one of the two guards on duty outside, but they were unable to press into the room due to the women trying to escape. At first, they tried pushing through, but when they caught sight of what the women were running from, fear paralyzed them.

“Demon!” shouted one of them before he was shoved aside by one of the fleeing maids.

Tobias screeched again. Now that the maids were clear, he dove towards his target. The count had at first been frozen when he had seen and heard Tobias enter. Now, he was reaching for his wand. Tobias narrowed his eyes. He knew what a spell as simple as levitation could do to stop him in his tracks.

{DIE!} he screamed into Mott’s mind as he vocalized a screech. The count faltered, nearly dropping his wand in shock. Tobias swung his tail to lob off the man’s wand hand, only to hear a clatter of steel. One of the guards, whose greying hairs revealed his experience, had managed to get between Tobias and his target. The boy-turned-Hork-Bajir snarled and lunged towards the man with both arms. The guard stepped back out of Tobias’s grab range, but was unprepared when a powerful kick nailed him between the legs. Hork-bajir legs were longer than their arms, and much stronger too boot.

This delay gave the second guard time to advance with his sword drawn, but when Tobias turned to look him in the eye, the man panicked, dropping his sword and fleeing for his life.

‘Coward,’ Tobias grumbled in his mind. Still, it made the job easier. Now all he had to due was—

“ARCK!” was the involuntary cry Tobias made when a blast of pressurized water smacked into his chest and carried him to the other side of the room. Survival instincts guided him to leap to the side as an arc of water ripped through the stone that his head had been in front of.

“No monster will be killing me in my own manor!” Count Mott declared as he pointed his wand towards Tobias. “Water Blades!”

Tobias was calling BS on the count’s magic as he was forced to jump around the room to dodge a flurry of water crescents. Setting things on fire made sense. Moving around the air made sense. Heck, even puppeteering earth golems made some amount of sense. But summoning and firing pressurized water arcs that could cut through stone from thin air? Where was the logic behind that?

“My lord, the creature is an evasive hunter,” the veteran guard warned. Despite the near destruction of his family jewels, the man had managed to remain on his feet and keep a clear head. “If you restrict it’s movements, it will lose its greatest asset.”

Technically Hork-Bajir were herbivores, but that was a pretty good deduction. Tobias would have given the man props for his excellent combat analytics, if that skill wasn’t being used against him!

“That sounds simple enough,” said Count Mott. “Water Tendrils!”

Tobias thought dodging arcs of water was annoying, but this was pure madness. From an orb located at the end of the count’s wand, six large watery tentacles sprouted forth. Their range was absurd and their coordination was damning. While Tobias was able to dodge the first few grabs, it wasn’t long before one managed to nab his leg. Then another grabbed his arm. A swing of his tail cut through the water to free his leg, but he wasn’t able to fend off the watery appendages faster than they could latch on to him. Within seconds, Tobias was restrained and hoisted up. A tendril warped around every limb, with the sixth wrapped around his waist.

The guard brandished blade and stepped forward, but the count held up a hand. “I think it is well restrained,” Mott said. “I will finish it personally.”

“Are you certain, my lord? Even while trapped, we don’t know what that thing is capable of.”

“True… but I think I’ve found it’s secret weapon.” With that, he moved the trendily around Tobias’s body to cover his mouth. “When it screamed, I swear I heard a voice telling me to die. I think it’s some kind of banshee.”

“A bladed lizard banshee?” the guard asked doubtfully.

“Perhaps,” the count said idly. “Unfortunately, as much as I would like to keep it as a pet, it seems far too dangerous.” A thin blade of ice stretched out from the tendril around Tobias’s mouth. “Let me see if I can keep its head intact, at least.”

Tobias now regretted leaping directly into action. He should have gone for an ambush, or at least made sure to focus his attention on the mage now standing in front of him. Now he was going to die because he stupidly let his anger cloud his judgement.

_No._

He wasn’t supposed to die doing something stupid. Hadn’t he promised Louise that?

_I refuse to die here. Not like this!_

Tobias had one trick left in his book. It wasn’t something he had tried in combat before. He’d only experiment with it on animals during his time away from society. He didn’t know if it would work, but now was a good a time as any to make it happen.

Count Mott grinned as he saw the fury in creature’s eyes. “Perfect,” he whispered. “That’s the expression I want on my trophy.”

{I AM NOT YOUR TROPHY!}

The mage stumbled as the shout echoed in his mind. Tobias’s bindings fell apart as the count lost concentration on his spell. Desperate not to waste the opportunity, Tobias charged for Mott.

The count raised his wand.

The guard drew his sword.

Tobias relived one of his most physically painful memories.

Thought-speak was a very weird thing. It was generally inferior to the power of telepathy, as it was more of a radio broadcast than a two-way communicator. Additionally, while thought-speak could send pictures and even videos, but it was hard to do. The sender had to consciously hold a memory of what they wanted to project and share it with the receiver. Essentially, projecting anything aside from words was retrieving and replaying memory, something that was hard to do except for simple pictures or easy concepts.

The feeling of nearly dying was something Tobias was very familiar with. Thus, it was easy to relieve one of those memories with the two people before him.

Tobias knew it wasn’t real. He knew he wasn’t being stabbed in the chest by a Hork-Bajir while in polar bear morph. He also knew that his entire body wasn’t littered with painful burns from Dracon Beam fire. However, the memory caused his body to react anyway. Tobias stumbled as his muscles to locked up. Shaking off the numb sensation, he stood to his feet as quickly as he could, and checked to see how his opponents were doing.

Count Mott had fallen to one knee. His wand arm was dragging on the floor, and the other was covering a non-existent hole in his chest. The guard had a pained grimace on his face and was resting heavily on his sword. His limbs quivered as he struggled to rise, but it appeared that he lacked the strength in his legs to move.

Tobias lunged with his tail, intent on ending this fight as quickly as possible.

Count Mott, though some force of sheer will or a moment of panic, reflexively cast a spell just before Tobias’s tail spike buried into his throat. Tobias retracting his tail violently, sending a spray of blood careening over the wall and floor.

A hiss escaped Tobias’s teeth when he realized that the Count’s last-ditch spell had frozen the water on the floor. The sudden freeze had not covered everywhere, but the epicenter wasn’t far from where Tobias was standing. One bird-like foot came out of the ice easily enough, but the other was frozen halfway to the calves.

The guard, seeing his lord now dead, fell back. That ended up saving his life, as Tobias’s tail snapped through the space the guard’s head had previously occupied. Tobias lunged again, but his tail was barely able to craze the guard’s armored shin. The man was unable to rise to his feet, but he was able to pick up his sword and kept it between himself and Tobias. His hands shook and his eyes threatened to burst from their sockets, but he was alive and conscious.

The sounds of shouts and armored footsteps were echoing through the open door. Tobias knew he had to get out of there fast, but he couldn’t risk morphing out of the ice with someone watching him. This left one other option. ‘This is going to suck,’ Tobias mentally grumbled.

Tobias lashed his tail forward to intimidate the guard while straining his partially frozen leg as much as he could. With a swift _fwick_ , his tail blade amputated the lower half of his leg.

The guard was surprised by the move, and that gave Tobias the opening he needed. The pain was too much for Tobias to make an accurate killing strike, so he pushed off with his good leg and tackled the guard. The guard’s sword came between them, but that didn’t stop the Animorph. Tobias’s blood dribbled to the floor from where the sword struck him in the chest, but the injury wasn’t fatal. The wristblade that sank into the guard’s neck, however, was.

Tobias let out a pained hiss as he pulled the sword out of his body. Normally, impaled objects were supposed to be left alone until the wound could be treated. Otherwise, the injured person would risk dying due to blood loss. However, morphing changed that dynamic. Tobias had to get away as soon as possible to morph out the injury, and a sword in his gut would not only slow him down, but it would make it impossible to properly heal during the morphing process.

Blood spilled from Tobias’s fingers as he covered the wound with one hand and leapt out through the broken window. He could hear the sounds of barking dogs, so he hobbled over to the wall as fast as he could, his tail functioning as a poor substitute for his missing foot. As the guards caught sight of him, they let their devil dogs lose.

Tobias smirked. He tensed his one good leg and jumped, easily landing on the top of the manor’s wall. Like trained attack dogs, the flying canines jumped straight at him, spreading their wings as they took to the air.

To the guards’ shock and horror, the mutant mutts were struck down in rapid succession. Tobias knew where to cut a dog to maximize their bleeding, and he had more than enough to blades to do the job. The creatures might have been very good against people who weren’t used to facing opponents from multiple directions, but compared to the aliens Tobias had fought in the past, they were child’s play.

With his human pursuers paralyzed in fear, Tobias seized the advantage of the moment and leapt into the trees. Thanks to that display, the guards would be a lot more hesitant to send their dogs wildly after him, which meant he had plenty of time to get some distance before demorphing back to his human form.

“Now all I need to do is grab Siesta,” he said as he started to morph back into a raven. “Hopefully she doesn’t ask too many questions.”

* * *

The sound of a window sliding shut woke Louise from her slumber. She shot up in bed, her bleary eyes struggled to make out the form of her intruder in the silhouette of the moonlight. The lanky frame could only belong to one person.

“What were you doing out so late?” Louise asked furiously, the thought of sleep instantly purged from her mind. “I searched the entire academy for you! Where did you go?” She then realized that her familiar was standing by the window in nothing but his underwear. “Why did you come through the window? How did you get up here? We’re on the seventh floor! Where are your clothes?”

Tobias stared blankly at Louise. “That’s a lot of questions,” he stated.

“Answer me!”

“I went exploring. Windows are convenient. I’m good with heights. Clothes are annoying.”

Louise glared at him. He didn’t sound like he was lying, but it didn’t take a genius to know he was hiding something from her. “No more breakfast for you tomorrow,” she decided. “And don’t complain or else I’ll take away lunch too.”

“Sounds fair,” said Tobias. He’d been starved worse as a kid, and hunting outside the academy was always an option for sustenance. “Good night.”

Louise was surprised by the passivity Tobias displayed as he made his way to his hay bed. While he rarely outright defied her, he normally would evaluate her orders before agreeing to anything besides simple commands. When the boy approached the bed of hay on the floor, he didn’t lie down as much as collapse onto the floor.

“I already told you can sleep on the bed,” Louise lectured him. “Don’t make me take back my generosity.” She heard no response. At first, she thought he was ignoring her, but then she realized that he was softly snoring away.

Curious, and more than a little concerned, Louise crept up to her human familiar. Tobias looked about the same as normal, with no noticeable injuries on his body. He also looked surprisingly clean for someone who had scaled a tower in nothing but a pair of boxers.

Louise watched as Tobias’s body tensed in his sleep, his breathing became shaky and his arms started to twitch erratically. The girl sighed and knelt down on the hay by Tobias’s head. She gently stroked her fingers through his hair. The shaking lessened, then stopped, and his breathing evened out as he slowly relaxed. When Louise was a child, her older sister Cattleya would sometimes give her the same treatment. The young mage had been doing it to Tobias whenever he had trouble sleeping. She doubted that her familiar had noticed, but that was fine. It wasn’t like she was doing it to be rewarded by him. Taking care of Tobias was simply her duty as his master.

With the boy calmed, Louise rose to her feet and dusted the hay from her nightgown. In the morning she’d have to ask a servant to remove the hay from the room to prevent this from happening again. Just as she was about to return to her bed, Louise noticed a dark spot on Tobias’s otherwise pale skin. Curious, she reached over and scratched at his arm, prying the mark from his skin. She examined it in the light of the moons and frowned.

“Is this blood?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I based this Mott off of what was implied from the anime. Normally I cut this event because it can throw off the tone of the story, but for Tobias, it's a great place to get his feet wet (in blood). Our bird boy is going to have a sizable body count by the time this story is over.
> 
> This chapter took large steps away from canon, and the ripple will be strong. What did you think? Anything about Tobias made you question his action? I like hearing your thoughts! Remember, reviews are food for a writer's soul!


	5. Public Disturbance

Tobias took a deep breath as the scents of the forest filled his nostrils. He let the air out with a content sigh. Birds were singing, critters were scurrying in the undergrowth, the sun hung high overhead, and a gentle breeze rustled the tree branches that provided shade overhead. It was the image of ideal tranquility for the former hermit.

Following Tobias’s escape the previous night, he had directed Siesta to come outside and had met her in the forest. The maid had been curious—and reasonably frightened—but Tobias was insistent that she ask no questions or tell anyone of his appearance. The eagerness she displayed with his command made Tobias suspicious, but he trusted that at least she would keep quiet.

Sneaking back into Louise’s room had been an easy enough, since the window were normally left unlocked. The only problem was that Tobias had forgotten how draining morphing could be when used repeatedly, especially when combat and blood loss were involved. With that on top off the several-hour long walk in the middle of the night, he had practically passed out once he reached the room. He couldn’t clearly remember what Louise had said to him the night before, but whatever it was, she had a scrutinizing gaze trained on him first thing in the morning. She said nothing though, so he didn’t ask.

Classes had been suspended for the day to a “unforeseen security issue”. There were rumors of a monster being loose in the forest, but from what Tobias could tell, no one had any details. If the teachers knew anything, they were being tight lipped about it.

Louise was taking advantage of the free day to get some studying done. She didn’t necessarily give permission for him to leave. But she hadn’t said anything when he left the room, so that was permission by omission in Tobias’s book. There was something he’d been dying to test for a while, and he figured that it was best to do it sooner than later.

In the forest, Tobias closed his eyes and focused. His ears elongated and grew sharp at the tip. Suddenly, he could hear the sounds of ants crawling over dead leaves and birds flying high above the treetops. Then he shrunk, rapidly. Within seconds he was the size of a baby, still roughly human aside from his pointed ears. Tobias supposed he looked like a misshapen Christmas elf.

Finally, his skeleton began to warp. Bones crunched and rearranged themselves. His skin sprouted splotchy white fur. His tailbone shot out and quickly became layered in muscle. It took almost another minute, but eventually found himself in the form a dappled white cat.

{It feels like a cat,} he thought to himself. {But something’s different.} He couldn’t tell exactly _what_ was unusual, but he supposed it was probably a genetic difference that he wasn’t experienced enough to identify. After all, it made sense that a creature from another world or planet would have _some_ genetic differences from the almost identical counterpart he was familiar with.

Tobias tried a few other mundane animals: a dog, an owl, and a parrot. All of them shared the same weird feeling as the cat, but aside from the parrot’s surprising fluidity of speech, they didn’t have any noticeable differences from their Earth counterparts.

Next came the exotic familiars.

The floating eyeball gave him a very strange sensation. At first, he was stuck on the ground, helpless because _he had no limbs!_ Then, he had the instinct to move himself. There was no rational logic behind the intention. After all, he had no means to do so, but Tobias let the creature’s instincts take over. Somehow, he ended up rising from the forest floor. After several faulty tries to manually control his movement, Tobias managed to get himself to float around trees.

Flight, or rather, float test successful, Tobias moved onto the next form: Flame, Kirche’s fiery red salamander. Immediately, Tobias noticed that the salamander’s first instincts were to bask in the sun. Then it wanted to eat something. Aside from those basic needs, it was quite calm. For something that looked so dangerous, its instincts were surprisingly docile.

Tobias forced himself away from a comfortable patch of sunlight to see the creature’s mobility. Like a typically lizard, it could dash quite quickly when it wanted to, even if its stamina wasn’t the best. Its tail packed a meaty slap as well. All in all, this “salamander” was pretty similar to an alligator, aside from the fact that his body always felt toasty warm, which was supposed to be deadly for the average cold-blooded reptile, and it had a torch of flame on the end of its tail. Tobias put a scaled foot in front of his mouth and blew on it to see if he could feel a temperature difference.

Glands he didn’t even realize that he had suddenly kicked into gear. A plume of fire shot from his mouth, washing over his foot with comfortable warmth before scorching the bark of a nearby tree. Tobias jumped in surprise, which resulted in him losing his balance, toppling onto his side, and finally rolling onto his back. Tobias let out a hiss of frustration as he struggled to right himself. However, instead of only sound and air, another stream of fire erupted from his throat and streaked into the forest. Panicking as he flailed, flames continued to spew from his mouth, until he finally managed to use his tail to prop himself onto his feet.

{Why me?} he asked as he observed his surroundings.

Fire was everywhere. Tobias knew that forest fires were usually caused by dried undergrowth catching onto embers from a leftover campfire. However, the flames he had been spitting managed to light up almost everything it hit that wasn’t leafy greens or thick bark. The unintentional frantic swings of his tail hadn’t helped matter either. Tobias tried smothering the nearest flame with his salamander body to see if he could absorb it, but aside from the pleasant sensation of heat running from his legs to his underbelly, nothing was happening.

Tobias demorphed as fast as he could. Escaping via hawk morph was easy, but that would still leave the forest on fire, and he needed the forest intact. Not only was it necessary for emergency hunting, but it was the only place he could go to truly unwind.

Also, it would be bad for the Academy residents. That was important too. Sort of.

There was one last thing Tobias could try. He shifted into the form of a sky blue dragon. Branches creaked and snapped as they were pushed away from his growing body. Tobias beat the flames with his wings, trying to smoother them enough so he could safely stomp them out. Unfortunately, he lacked the space to make any strong currents. Every beat of his wings brought the flames higher, and knocked down more debris to free them.

{Stupid fire. Stupid creatures. Stupid useless wings!} Tobias grumbled mentally as he tried stomping out the flames with his large body. He quickly learned that this form did not have the same heat resistance of a salamander. Prickling pain shot from his leathery feet when he tried to stomp on the fire. It wasn’t as painful as it would have been for a more fleshy creature, like a human, but it still hurt.

{How is a fire-breathing dragon not immune to flames when the fire-breathing lizard is?} Tobias hissed. Granted, he had never seen the dragon breath fire, but it was a _dragon_ after all. Flaring his wings in anger, Tobias slammed them down, intent on creating as much wing space as possible so he could put out the flames properly.

The result was not what he expected. A force of wind as strong as a hurricane ripped through the forest, sending branches, debris, and lighted embers everywhere. While the nearest fires were now low enough for him to stomp out, Tobias knew that there would be plenty of smaller fires growing all over the forest after that stunt. To make matters worse, people would soon coming running to find out what had caused the smoky windstorm.

Tobias decided to cut his losses, switch to hawk morph, and fly away to the safety of the academy.

* * *

After safely demorphing in Louise’s room, Tobias crept down to the common area, where the students were abuzz with rumors of a sudden fire in the forest. Tobias listened in to see if there were any leads, but the students were merely throwing around theories while they waited for some teachers to come back from investigating

Tobias mentally pat himself on the back for leaving when he did. If had stayed a minute longer, he might have been caught. And if he had left a minute sooner… he would have created a much smaller mess. Now he was stuck inside the academy until the heat—literal and figurative—died down.

Perfection was an art, and Tobias was not an artist.

A flash of black hair brought Tobias’s attention to Siesta, who was serving tea to a pair of noble girls. Why nobles insisted on having tea and snacks in practically every part of the Academy, Tobias would never understand. As the maid turned around to leave, she caught on to Tobias’s stare. She gave a small smile and nod before resuming her departure. This made Tobias relieved; Siesta wasn’t drawing any unnecessary attention to herself.

“It’s rude to stare, you know.”

Tobias resisted the urge to jump, and instead turned to the speaker with a scowl on his face. He blinked, expression slacking as he recognized the maid who had informed him about Siesta’s plight. But her brown hair, while in its usual bun, had a reddish hue. “Anne?” he asked.

The maid shook her head, a patient smile on her face. “I’m Mary Anne, her cousin,” she explained. “We get mixed up a lot.”

Cousin? Try sister, or better yet, twin! Tobias knew his human eyes paled compared to a hawk’s, but at a glance the only difference he could notice was the slight difference in hair color. And why were their names almost the same?

“You really should work on that, a lady might feel embarrassed being looked at so intently.”

Judging by the impish smile on her face, Mary Anne was not one of those ladies. “What do you want?” Tobias asked.

“Is it wrong to thank the person who helped one of your friends?” Mary Anne asked.

Tobias mentally facepalmed. He had forgotten to ask Anne to keep quiet about his involvement. Big oversight on his part. “I don’t need thanks, and I’d like you to not talk about it,” he said.

She gave him a curious, sly look. “Who would think that you’d be the modest type? From what Anne described, I’d expect you to be more on the prickly, temperamental side.” Her smile widened as Tobias scowled. “There! Exactly like that!”

“Are you always this annoying?” Tobias growled.

“Only to normal people, like me and you!”

Normal? As if. Tobias was finding a clear distinction between Mary Anne and her similarly named cousin. Her personality was out of place for a fully grown adult. If it wasn’t for her face—which looked like someone in their twenties—and her body—which looked too developed to be a teenager, excluding Kirche—Tobias would place her to around Louise’s age. How was she able to keep a job around the entitled snobs that occupied the academy?

One of the students snapped their fingers. As if a switch was flipped, Mary Anne’s mischievous expression shifted into a polite smile as she made her way to the noble who had signaled her. As she left, she turned her head slightly and gave Tobias a wink.

Well, that answered that question.

“I hate people…” Tobias grumbled as he left the room. Social interaction was too nuanced for him. He needed to find Anne—and not her childish doppelganger—so she wouldn’t spread the word any more than she already had. Hopefully, he’d even be able to do damage control. It was unlikely that they would suspect him of being responsible for the monster attack, but the less gossip that went around, the safer he would be.

Out of the six original Animorphs, only Tobias and his uncle/best friend Ax had not needed to keep up civilian identities. Tobias knew how to lie and deceive—living with a hawk beak did wonders to improve his poker face—but he was unused to keeping a façade up for long periods of time. It was tiring work, especially with Louise watching over his every move.

“Tobias!”

Speak of the nuisance, and she shall appear.

“Yes, Louise?” Tobias asked as the pink-haired midget stomped up to him, her face flushed and breathing labored. The other students in the hallway looked at the two with curiosity, hoping to see something interesting to fuel the school gossip grapevine.

“Where have you been?” Louise demanded to know. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you!”

“Out causing forest fires with my uncontrollable morphs,” is what Tobias _would_ say if he could afford to be honest. However, now was not a good time to reveal he had alien morphing powers.

Instead, he replied with, “I was getting some fresh air and came back to look for you. Need something?”

“I need you!”

A few of nearby students snickered. Louise’s face grew even redder as she quickly insisted, “No! That’s not what I meant!”

“So, you don’t need me?” Tobias asked.

“I do, but not like that!” Louise shook her head. “Ugh! Stop aggravating me! Stupid familiar!”

Tobias blinked owlishly. “How am I aggravating you?” he asked in honest confusion. Sure, he messed with her from time to time, but he was being serious right now. Did she need him or not? It was a simple yes or no question.

Louise settled for none of the above, instead grabbing his arm and dragging him away. “Are you determined to annoy me?” she asked as she pulled him along.

“Usually, yes, but I’m being serious right now,” Tobias replied candidly. The girl’s grip was tight, but he felt confident he could break out from it. However, he realized that letting her have a bit of control would make her feel more at ease, and thus easier for him to deal with. That much, at least, he had managed to learn about social interaction.

Louise suddenly stopped, nearly causing Tobias to trip as he was jerked to a halt as well. “Are you serious?” she asked gravely.

“I just said I was,” Tobias replied flatly. “Are you going to explain, or do I have to throw guesses around?”

Louise looked away, making Tobias realize he was glaring too intensely at her. “It’s nothing,” she said.

Women. Truly, they were life’s greatest mystery.

Louise cleared her throat. “Anyway,” she said, regaining her authoritative tone. “I have just heard that the princess would be coming for the Void Day celebration.” She looked at Tobias expectantly, but his face didn’t so much as twitch. She frowned. “You could at least be excited about it,” she said accusingly.

“I feel like I’m missing some context for your excitement.”

“Have you seriously not heard of Void Day?” Louise asked incredulously. “Everyone’s been talking about it!”

“I thought Void Day was a day of the week,” Tobias replied. “Like a weekend. Is it a holiday?”

Louise sighed, and grabbed him by the arm again. Dragging him along, she lectured as they walked. “Void Day is the day of the year we celebrate the Founder’s lost element, the Void. Normally, it’s celebrated by festivals and food. Here at the academy, we have a familiar talent show. It’s normally just a way to show off familiars, but with Princess in attendance, it’s going to be very important.”

“How?”

“Because everyone will be performing in front of the _princess_!” Louise stretched the word like it was the most important thing in the world. “To achieve favor by the princess herself is the dream for any noble!”

“Ah… I see.”

Louise turned to look at him accusingly. “Why do you still sound so disinterested?” she asked.

“I’m not from around here,” Tobias reminded her. “Also, I really don’t care for titles of people I’ve never met. There’s a difference between a person being born in power and them doing something to earn their position.” And from his experience, even people who earned positions of power weren’t always the nicest or easiest to deal with.

Once again, Tobias found himself yanked to a stop as Louise glared into his eyes. “You better not say any of that to the princess’s face,” she growled in a generously low tone.

Tobias rolled his eyes. “I’m not going to antagonize the princess of an entire country,” he assured her. “I’m blunt, not stupid.”

“Hmph! I’ll hold you to it,” said Louise, proceeding to drag him along once again.

“Where are we going?” Tobias couldn’t help but ask.

“Here!” Louise pulled him out a set of doors, bringing them to a courtyard pockmarked with patches of dirt.

“And why are we here?”

Before answering, Louise pulled Tobias to one of the open patches of dirt and released his arm. “We need to find a routine that will impress the Princess and win us first place in the competition.”

Tobias had trouble believing his ears. He knew Louise considered him to be a pet, but participating in an animal talent show was not what he expected. “Any skill I have is not intended for a stage performance,” he informed her.

“I figured as much,” Louise grumbled. “So, any ideas?”

Tobias stared back at her blankly.

The noble girl sighed. “What I wouldn’t give for a dragon right now,” she lamented.

Tobias refrained from informing her that her wish would take only two minutes to grant.

* * *

In the office of a particularly white-haired headmaster, a storm was brewing.

“Count Mott has been found murdered in his home!”

“Sightings of a monster ties an unknown creature to his death!”

“The territory is in disarray!”

“The royal family has sent personal investigators to discover the culprit!”

“Rumors of elf sightings may in fact be true!”

“The fire in the forest appeared to be deliberate!”

“Huge amounts of damage!”

“It was as if a fire and wind mage were intent on sending a message!”

“Footprints at the scene of the crime indicate dragon activity!”

“Enough!” Osmond shouted, slamming his hands against his desk and bringing the shouts to a close. “I asked you to come here to give me your reports, not make me deaf! If I wanted to hear the shouts of gossiping schoolchildren I’d go downstairs and join the students for lunch!” He took a deep breath to compose himself. “Now, let us try this again with the proper decorum of dignified nobles. What is the report from the Royal Investigators?”

“They have not issued an official statement,” one teacher responded. “The case is still under investigation.”

“Of course,” Osmond snorted. “Thank you, Mr. Fredrick. Next, how about testimonies from the guards?”

“The rabble were incorrectly babbling about some kind of lizard-bird monster,” another teacher added. “Honestly, I’m inclined to believe that they made the story up to save face.”

“A dozen guards decided to pretend that they saw an unheard-of monster to try to save face in the _murder_ of the lord they were supposed to protect?” Osmond asked skeptically. “Pray tell, Mr. Kaita, how much sense does that make?”

The professor glared from beneath his long flow of raven hair. “Can you believe that the _thing_ they describe would appear out of nowhere and attack a noble this close to the academy and disappear without a trace?” he challenged the headmaster.

“I heard it was a small dragon that walked on two legs,” one professor chimed in.

“Dragon? No, it had no wings. It was a spiny lizard.”

“Its head was like a vulture, except with rows of sharp pointy teeth!”

“It had the body of a man and the head of snake!”

“I hear they found the remains of a bird leg!”

“Ladies! Gentlemen! Calm yourself!” Osmond raised his voice. “While we may not know what the creature is, can we identify where it came from or where it went?”

“Some of the servants say that they saw it run off into the forest, away from the capital and the academy.”

“Others say it never left the mansion.”

“It’s first confirmed sighting was in the Count’s living room.”

“But there are no footprints to show how it got into the manor, only a bloody trail that shows how it left.”

“It was said to jump the entire wall with one leg. Some say that with both it could jump from the wall to the manor in a single bound.”

Osmond sighed. He was getting too old for this. “Since all that has been presented so far are hearsay and rumors, I’m assuming we have no solid leads on this aberrant monstrosity?”

The room fell silent as the faculty shuffled their feet, too scared to admit the truth.

The wizened headmaster let out another long sigh. “What about the fire that recently occurred in the forest?” he asked. “Surely we must have found something of note there.”

“There’s evidence of a dragon, probably even two being in the area,” said Colbert. “The fire and wind produced suggests a fire dragon and wind dragon.”

“Doesn’t one of the student’s wind dragon live in the forest?” one professor asked.

“Yes, but the familiar has been within the academy walls since breakfast,” said Colbert. “And since no one has stepped forward to claim responsibility, it’s currently unknown if they were wild dragons or tamed ones that were irresponsibly handled.”

“Of course,” Osmond grumbled. “It would be too much to make our lives just a little bit easier. The princess was supposed to be on her way to our academy, but with these incidents, it is very likely that she will remain in the capital instead.”

“But what about our preparations?” a professor lamented.

“Are you prepared to handle rogue dragons and lizard monsters?” Osmond asked. The silence that followed the question was its own answer. “If I was in my heyday, I could assure the Princess’s safety personally. But we can’t afford to take that risk now, can we?”

“We’re already in a bad enough spot without risking our crown princess for a holiday celebration,” Colbert agreed. “The students will be disappointed, but Princess Henrietta’s safety comes first.”

“And the safety of our students come right after that,” said Osmond. “I want two teachers on guard every night. One will patrol the outer walls, and the other will guard the Vault, as per usual.” Osmond noticed that the gazes of his faculty glanced away guiltily. “What is it now? Don’t tell me that our Vault has been left unwatched as well?”

“W-well, the country has been at peace so far…”

“It’s exhausting to stay up late after grading papers…”

“Who would even try to break into the Vault?”

Osmond rested his face in his hands. “Go,” he said forlornly. “Just go. Do your duties.”

The sight of seeing the headmaster so defeated made the teachers scurry away faster than before. Colbert looked towards the old man one last time, before lowering his head and shame and also leaving the room. Then, it was just Osmond and his secretary, Miss Longueville.

“It’s hard taking care of everything, isn’t it?” Longueville asked sympathetically.

“Sometimes I have trouble remembering which of them are the children,” Osmond lamented. “I wonder if I should retire. Maybe I’ve held the torch for so long that everyone else has gotten complacent.”

“Don’t blame yourself for this,” Longueville said. She rested a comforting hand on Osmond’s shoulder, causing the old man to perk up. “You’re doing the best you can, but you’re only one man.” She leaned towards him and whispered in his ear. “How about you focus on keeping the school running and dealing with the political side of things? I can set up a schedule for guard shifts and have it ready for you in the morning.”

“Really?” Osmond asked. “Oh, Miss Longueville, you’re the best secretary a weary old man could ask for.” He embraced her as he wept.

“I’m only doing my job,” Longueville replied humbly. She strained to keep her voice pleasant as the headmaster’s hands reached down to her backside. She remined herself that it would all be worth it soon.

Very soon.

Soon couldn’t come soon enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nothing big happens in this little chapter. But after dealing with Guiche and Mott, Tobias could use a break to set the forest on fire. And this is why the Animorphs normally morphed with each other around. There's no way to know what could go wrong while trying a new morph. That goes double for magical creatures.
> 
> Next chapter will feature the infamous Fouquet. Since Tobias has caused too much commotion, the timeline's steadily getting more divergent. Stay tuned! And remember, reviews are food for a writer's soul!  
> (If you want to support giving food for this writer's body, then I've a got a Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/rainestar. Donate and vote in the poll to determine my next one-shot!


	6. Kidnapped Part 1

Louise gently stroked Tobias’s head as he laid on their shared bed. The boy was curled up by her knees, arms twitching like he was trying to flap non-existent wings. His entire body trembled like a leaf. His face, contorted in pain, was more expressive than Louise had ever seen while he was awake. Harsh, panting breaths left his lips, which were forming soundless words Louise couldn’t interpret. As Louise’s fingers ran through her familiar’s hair, he gradually calmed down. The trembling and twitches subsided, and his breathing evened out.

With the episode finally over, Louise let out a sigh of relief. “Honestly, you are very fortunate to have me as your master,” she lectured her sleeping familiar. “Most nobles wouldn’t bother to give a commoner this much attention.” She heard no response, as expected. Her familiar was silent, with the only sound being that of his gentle breathing.

“You’re frustrating and impossible to handle,” Louise continued in a soft voice. “I bet none of the other students worry about their familiar wandering off for hours on end. And when you finally come back, you make it sound like I’m at fault for your disappearance. If you were a proper familiar, you’d do what I say without question. Instead, you question almost everything I say. You don’t always say it out loud, but I can see the judgement in your eyes. You always think I’m being unreasonable, but you follow anyway because even a strange a peasant like you understands the concept of duty.”

Louise huffed, crossing her arms over her flat chest. “Sometimes I think you’re more trouble than your worth. Walking around in only your underclothes like a barbarian. Entering my window in the middle of the night like a thief.” Louise clenched at the end of her nightgown with trembling fists. “You’re crude, creepy, and so stubborn!”

“I can’t even punish you for your disobedience,” she complained. “When I do, you act like you don’t care. When I deprive you of food, you don’t react. When Guiche beat you hard enough to break your bones…” Tears began to fall onto the backs of Louise’s hands. “You laughed. You were in pain, but you laughed, and fought back. You weren’t even angry! How? How are so strong?”

“I see you like this every night, but you’re always the same in the morning. You’re suffering, but if we didn’t share a bed, I would never know. How are you able to live like this? Never showing weakness, always keeping your head high? My mother taught me that that is the way to live: the ‘Rule of Steel’. But I’ve never met her expectations. What’s the difference between you and me? What do you have that I don’t?!”

Tobias said nothing, of course. He continued to sleep away peacefully, Louise sighed and ran her hand over Tobias’s head one last time. The girl then slid off the bed and stretched her arms over her head. Taking care of her familiar every time he woke her up with his twitching cut into her beauty sleep—which left her very cranky in the morning—but it was routine at this point. While Louise would never admit it to Tobias’s face, she both feared and admired her familiar’s unfailing attitude. She knew that there was something _very_ wrong with him, but if only she could have the iron will that he did… maybe, just maybe, she would be able to get somewhere in life.

The young mage looked out the window and took in the night view. Prior to summoning her enigmatic familiar, she normally wasn’t one to stay up late. However, she had grown to appreciate the beauty the night brought. The twin moons shone over the courtyard, illuminating the open grass and cloaked figure running across it.

Louise frowned and walked closer to the window. Whoever the person was, they weren’t wearing the robe of a student or teacher. And who would be out in the middle of the night? Louise found it suspicious. She grabbed her wand and quickly threw her robe over her nightwear before sneaking down the tower.

* * *

A hooded figure was standing at the base of the Void Tower with a wand in hand. The person had made several attempts to transmute various parts of the tower, but to no avail. The walls repelled the spells like a duck’s feathers did to water. The frustrated person was so engrossed by their task that they didn’t notice that they were not alone until a voice broke through the quiet night.

“Stop right there, intruder!”

The cloaked figure whirled around to face Louise, wand at the ready. “What is a brat like you doing up at this hour?” the person asked. The voice was ambiguous, making it hard for Louise to determine if the speaker was a man or a woman. The lack of proper lighting didn’t help matters either. All she could tell was that the person was taller than her and had long hair.

“Identify yourself!” Louise ordered, pointing her wand at the intruder.

The person chuckled. “Normally I would save the introduction for my exit, but for you I’ll make an exception. I am Fouquet of the Crumbling Earth.”

Louise nearly dropped her wand in surprise. “Fouquet?” she squeaked. “Here?”

Fouquet of the Crumbling Earth was an infamous thief known over all Halkegenia, a triangle class earth mage who specialized in transmutation. Very few people caught Fouquet in the act of stealing, as his primary strategy was transmuting the walls of vaults and manors and only leaving his signature behind.

Despite knowing this, Louise held her ground. She tightened her grip on her wand and pointed it at the thief. “Surrender yourself!” she ordered.

The man tilted his head ever so slightly. “You think you can order me around, little girl?” he sneered. “I’m not one of your lapdogs, willing to roll on my back at your beck and call.”

“You’re a dog regardless for having the audacity to attack the Tristan Academy of Magic!”

Fouquet didn’t respond right away. “I normally try to keep a clean record, but you’re really trying my patience,” the earth mage said in a sharp voice. “You really won’t stop until I surrender, won’t you?”

“That’s right!”

The man let out a long sigh. “What a pity,” he said. “I guess I’ll have to take care of you first then.” He raised his wand and pointed it at Louise.

Louise’s wand was already pointed at Fouquet, but the threat was an empty one. The only thing she could create with her magic were harmless explosions. She didn’t even know if her explosion could reach Fouquet at that distance. Indecisiveness and doubt plagued Louise’s mind, leaving her unaware as the earth rose up to trap her. By the time she realized what was happening, her arms had been pinned to her sides and she was trapped from the neck down.

“Release me!” Louise shouted. She struggled against her encasing, but to no avail.

“I’d rather not have a noble brat running underfoot,” Fouquet said casually. Louise took in a deep breath to scream, but Fouquet predicted her action and had the dirt cover the lower part of her face. Louise could still breath through her nose, but she was now silenced as well immobilized. “There. Now with you taken care of, I’ve got a Vault to break into. Don’t go anywhere~.”

Louise struggled angrily, but there was nothing she could do. The earthen encasing was much stronger than she was. Her wand was still in her hand, but even if she managed to blow up the rock, she had no guarantee that her own body would remain intact in the process.

Was that it? In the face of a single thief, Louise had been defeated before she had a chance to cast a single spell. No, she could have cast a spell, but she hadn’t. Hesitation had cost Louise the chance to strike the thief first. Now she was trapped, helpless, unable to even call for help. No one would be coming to save her; they were all sleeping safe and sound in their beds.

Louise strained against the confines as she saw Fouquet approach the tower. If she could only create an explosion, one loud enough to wake up the school, then she would have at least done something. If she failed, then she risked the spell blowing up her arm. It was a risk Louise was hesitant to take.

Then Louise narrowed her eyes. If she always held back, then she would never get anywhere. Her own familiar wasn’t scared when his life was on the line. If Tobias could do it, then so could she.

Willpower was the source of a mage’s magic. If a mage had no will to control the elements, the elements would not bend to their will. It was as simple as that. Louise, despite her constant failures, had never lost her willful, stubborn nature. Every time she casted a spell, regardless of how many naysayers whispered and jeered around her, she always gave it her all.

This time was no exception. From under the gag of dirt, Louise whispered a single word as she felt her willpower siphon into her wand.

“ _Explosion_.”

A thunderous boom erupted from Louise’s wand. As she suspected, the earth around the wand caused the spell to detonate directly against her skin. To her surprise, however, she could still feel all her fingers. Instead of dirt and clothes, smoky ash ran from Louise’s wand to halfway down her bicep.

Fouquet, who had been attempting to transmute the ground underneath the tower, jerked his head towards Louise. “Tch. Stop causing trouble for me brat!” he growled as he raised his wand. This time he would make sure to remove her wand. One explosion could be dismissed as Louise doing some unappreciated late-night magic practice. If she fired off any more, people would start looking to quiet her down.

A second explosion erupted in front of Fouquet, throwing the thief from his feet. “Damned brat!” the thief cursed.

Louise didn’t let up. She wasn’t worrying about aim or power. Her goal was to stall Fouquet as long as possible. All the jokes Tobias had made about her destructive power were actually proving useful. No one liked to get blown up, so despite the harmlessness of Louise’s explosions, Fouquet had plenty of incentive to prioritize dodging over attacking. The beauty of this failed spell was that there were no projectiles to block. Wherever Louise pointed her wand, an explosion erupted. However, she was quickly tiring. This was the first time she had used this many explosions in a row, and her mind wasn’t strong enough to keep it up.

Eventually, Louise made a mistake. She fired an explosion that detonated too far away from Fouquet. With that second of breathing room, the thief pointed his wand in Louise’s direction and had the earth crush Louise’s wrist. With a muffled cry of pain, the girl was forced to drop her wand.

Fouquet made a _tsk_ as he realized that lights in several rooms were now lit. “Great, you’ve ruined my heist,” he said bitterly. “I normally try to avoid dealing with people, but to recoup my loss, I think I’ll take you along with me.” The earth mage flicked his wand and the ground around Louise rippled and groaned. The earth around Louise shifted into a closed fist as a golem sprung up from the ground.

The change freed Louise’s mouth, allowing her to yell at the thief, “Unhand me you ruffian! Kidnapping is serious crime! Do you know who I am?”

“How can I not? You’re the daughter of Duchess Karin of the Heavy Wind,” Fouquet responded. “I bet you’d fetch a pretty nice ransom. Well, assuming your family wants you back in the first place. Last I heard, you were a bastard child between your mother and one of the strapping young male servants.”

“You take that back your obscene dog!”

“Tsk. Tsk,” Fouquet said as he waved a finger. “Never argue with your captor.” The golem’s hand squeezed tighter, the constriction forcing excess air from Louise’s lungs. “Just stay quiet and we won’t have any problems.”

Louise struggled, but she was slowly losing air. Her voice was gone, and her muscles went slack as her eyes stated to close against her own will.

_Help…_

_Someone…_

_Anyone…_

_Save me…_

* * *

Tobias was dreaming.

He knew he was dreaming, because he had gone through enough messed up craziness in his life to know the difference between a dream and reality.

He also knew that he had gone to bed sometime after the moons had risen.

He must be dreaming, because that was the only to explain what he was experiencing.

His body was trapped. His body struggled, but he couldn’t break free of the bindings that held him. He couldn’t even see what was holding him. It wasn’t the cold of steel or the roughness of ropes. Whatever it was, it covered him all over, and was unshaken by his struggles.

His arm came free. There was a strange tingle running down his forearm, but that wasn’t important. What was he doing? Why wasn’t he morphing? A partial morph into a small creature would allow him to easily escape his confinement.

He wasn’t alone. Someone was there. An enemy. A threat. A slender, shadowy figure.

His prison was shifting. His arm was no longer free. He was slowly rising into the air. His breath was short as the air was crushed out of his lungs. He was silently yelling and screaming, struggling to keep his eyes open. A curtain of tangled pink knots fell over his eyes just before they closed.

Wait.

Pink?

Pink hair?

He didn’t have pink hair.

Louise.

Louise had pink hair.

_Louise was in danger._

Tobias’s eyes snapped open. He didn’t know what was going on, but he had a bad feeling in his gut. Louise wasn’t in bed beside him. He could hear low thuds coming from outside.

Tobias flung open the window and leaned his body as far forward as he dared as he began to morph. In the light of the moons, he could make out a hulking figure clambering over the academy’s outer wall. As Tobias’s eyes adjusted, he could see a mop of pink hair carried in the _thing’s_ hand. Tobias wasted no time shedding his too-large clothes and jumping from the window.

There wasn’t enough distance between Louise’s room and the ground for Tobias to make a complete morph. However, he had long since mastered the art of mid-air morphing. He kept his arms spread as his body continued its transformation. Only feet away from the ground, he managed to catch himself in a glide as he continued morphing. Flapping his now fully formed wings, Tobias pulled his completed hawk morph into the air.

People were starting to come out of the school building. Unimportant. Tobias focused his attention on the _thing_ that was carrying Louise. It looked like a deformed, vaguely humanoid, walking lump of dirt. Tobias could only assume it was a golem like Guiche’s Valkyrie had been. The differences were vast in its size, design, and composition, but he didn’t know what else to call an animated dirt clod. Tobias could also see a cloaked and hooded figure riding on the golem’s shoulder. He was most likely the puppeteer.

Tobias needed to rescue Louise, but he couldn’t afford to be hasty. Based on that dream, vision, whatever it was, the golem was clearly strong enough to crush her without a thought. Incapacitating the puppeteer was also risky. If the golem fell apart, Louise would get smothered. And if it stayed still, then Tobias still wouldn’t be able to free her before the kidnapper recovered.

‘I need back up,’ Tobias told himself. ‘This person is too strong to fight, and I can’t follow them and rescue Louise while in this morph.’

By this time, the Academy was a fair distance behind him. Flying back for reinforcements wasn’t an option. The time it would take to demorph, find someone useful, and convince them to give chase would give the kidnapper ample opportunity to get away. Even if he threw away his secrecy and spoke directly as a hawk, it would take too long to convince someone to take him seriously. And if he tried to broadcast his message to everyone in the area, the thief would hear it too, and change course. Tobias needed a way to get a message quickly a single person who would believe him without asking pointless questions.

If Tobias was a human, he would have slapped himself _very_ hard. There was one person who would listen to what he said without question. {Siesta!}

Here the trouble with thought-speak showed itself. While Tobias was familiar enough with Siesta to project thoughts to her mind, he had no way of knowing if she was within range to hear him, or if she was even awake. {Listen, this is an emergency! Louise is being kidnapped by a large golem and its puppeteer. I’m following behind them, but I need reinforcements, preferably some that can take down a golem the size of a house. I’m traveling north by north west. Get help!}

That would have to do it. Tobias had no way of confirming if the message had been received, but there was nothing else he could do about that. He also wasn’t sure if there would be anyone who would listen to the maid. All he could do was hope that help would come. Otherwise, he was on his own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dream-visions are canon to both Animorphs and FoZ. Funny how that works out.
> 
> This chapter took a bit of a non-canon turn. That's what happens when the timeline gets all muddled. Stay tuned to what happens next! Remember, comments are food for a writer's soul!

**Author's Note:**

> Louise Summons is a series where I have Louise summon different familiars to make better use of the characters and world that the author of Familiar of Zero so shallowly utilized. This time, Tobias the bird-boy is here to be Louise's pet. Out of all the familiars I've planned for the series, Tobias is one of the darkest due to him being summoned at a terrible point in his life.  
> I know the Animorphs community is old, but if you want this to continue, please follow or leave a comment! Remember, comments are food for a writer's soul!


End file.
